


Magis Quam Dei

by MoodyPinkGlitter



Category: Hogwarts Au - Fandom, Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Bluesey - Freeform, Gangsey, Hogwarts AU, Multi, Post Great War, The Raven Cycle - Freeform, a bit of angst but nothing too heavy, apart from Noah but he's already dead, basically a lot of escapades in hogwarts for these babes, but he's in it because I don't hate kavinsky, everybody swears, good luck, high school feelings and friendship angst, no one dies, no one likes kavinsky, no trk spoilers, not my best friend is going to die in a ditch angst, prepare yourself for what will hopefully be an epic journey, pynch - Freeform, raven cycle hogwarts AU, the gangsey
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-15
Updated: 2018-05-21
Packaged: 2018-07-24 06:20:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 37,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7497405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MoodyPinkGlitter/pseuds/MoodyPinkGlitter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Blue Sargent doesn't want friends.  Blue wants to get out of her tiny wizarding village and see the world, muggle and magical alike.  But keeping your head down and finding your escape isn't quite as simple as all that when the sorting hat starts warbling about a powerful awakening of an old legend and you end up being caught up in a whirlwind of a quest to find something 'more than a god' by a group of boys with questionable authority on the subject.</p><p>Or:  the multi-chapter, epic Hogwarts AU that no one asked for but I wanted anyway.</p><p>I OWN NOTHING I'M JUST BORROWING FROM MAGGIE STIEFVATER (characters) AND J.K ROWLING (world)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Tower

For once the sun was shining down on the small house at the end of Fox Way in the almost completely untouched wizarding village of Henrietta, situated on the very tip of Kent where the English coast touched the North Sea. Sun was altogether more likely at the crossover between August and September, but it was still considered a blessing when the general weather forecast was decided by the storms that racked the ocean next door. These storms were the main reason Henrietta had remained one of the few purely wizarding places alongside Hogsmeade and Godric’s Hollow, as it was only the magical folk who’d been able to keep their houses stable and upkeep their lifestyle On the unpredictable coastline. The quaint village only hosted between five hundred and six hundred people, maybe even less, and was definitely the epitome of the classic village community; everyone knew everyone and there was no such thing as private business, though in a place like this there was almost no need for it. Not enough happened for anyone to tell stories about what happened behind so-and-so’s closed door.

Blue Sargent had grown up in this town and not known much else beyond the sign that notified the traveller they’d entered the tiny place. Blink and you’ll miss it, was the slogan the locals had created with wry smiles and soft laughs. Not that there wasn’t a lot to do in the mismatched house at the end of Fox Way, where the girl lived with what felt like the entirety of the villages female population; her mother, her mother’s two best friends, numerous aunts and cousins and on top of that, friends of all of the aforementioned women coming through on a regular basis. The house of Number 3, Fox Way was home to some very accomplished psychics who had championed the field of divination at school before retreating away from the spotlight to their tiny home in the corner of England. Divination had never held the same reverence that other classes of magic commandeered but, as Jimi had always told her niece, it was a very particular and delicate skill. The future wasn’t set in stone and prophecies are vague but always accurate. The young Blue nodded enthusiastically as she listened, in between practising with her cards and poring over the books her mother leant her. But she’d never quite got the hang of it. She’d shown enough magic to receive her Hogwarts letter on the day she turned eleven, but had grown hardy through the years and given up on her dream to follow in her family’s footsteps with hurt and difficulty, finally giving it up as she stepped into her OWL years. With all of the pressure put on her in the last three years over these exams, she was glad she’d dropped it as she stepped into her sixth year and focus all her attention on the subjects she really needed in her NEWT years. Blue hadn’t been worried – she knew she’d scrape a pass in all the subjects she’d hated and excel in the one’s she was planning to take for NEWT level and then she would be on her way. And now she was. It was the day she had to head over to Kings Cross Station to get the train up to Scotland, back to Hogwarts with the rest of her year, and she was doing the last of her packing in her tiny bedroom next door to her cousin Orla’s bedroom. The noise of muggle music that was constantly streaming out of that room gave Blue a headache.

“Orla!” Blue yelled over the din. “Turn that fucking noise off!”

In retaliation, Blue heard the volume get turned up by at least five notches. Why did she need to blast it so early in the morning? Blue wanted to scream. Instead, she continued to aggressively throw all her belongings into the hand-me-down trunk that spelled ‘Sargent’ on the front in peeling silver letters. Twiddling her slender want between her fingers, she thought longingly of how in less than five months she would turn seventeen and would be able to hex her cousin as much as she liked.

“Blue!” her mother, Maura, called up the stairs. “You’re going to miss the train!”

Blue started throwing things in her trunk a lot faster. “Coming!” she shouted back, slamming the lid shut and heaving it out of the room. Hopefully she had everything.

“BLUE!” her name was bellowed up the stairs again. This was Calla, the aggressively loud second member of the trio of best friends. Rolling her eyes, Blue didn’t deign to answer her and tugged the huge trunk down the stairs, her wand stuck behind her ear. It was a wonder how she made it stay behind her tiny ears, in her spiky hair only barely held back by clips and hair ties in a way that looked so effortlessly grungy, but had of course had taken her far too long to perfect. The stairs of her home were rickety, old, thin things and lugging a trunk down them was always going to prove a problem as she crashed from floor to floor on her way down, much to the chagrin of the other women. Pointedly ignoring them, Blue carried on noisily, as all of them were only complaining instead of helping her with magic they could legally use.

On her way down the winding stairs, she ran into Persephone, the third member of her mother’s trio. “Take a card.” The wispy woman asked her, looking like she was completely oblivious to the fact that now both Maura and Calla were shrieking up the stairs to hurry her up. But Blue couldn’t resist. She always took one before she headed back to school. Very quickly, she reached out and plucked on from the deck of tarot cards Persephone held out to her. She looked down at the card in her hand. The Tower, upright. She glanced back up at the Persephone, who cocked her head to the side. “Disaster. Upheaval. Sudden Change. Revelation.” She said in her quiet voice. Her voice was always quiet and Blue had to strain to hear it over the noises of the house of women starting their day.

“So a good year for me then?” Blue rolled her eyes, sarcasm laced through her tone.

Persephone started at her through her gargantuan eyes. “Not necessarily.”

Blue looked up disbelievingly at the other woman. “Because that sounds like I’m just going to have smooth sailing.”

She was considered silently for a moment. “I think…” Persephone said softly, “you’d better just prepare yourself.” 

Before Blue had a chance to ask Persephone what that meant, her mother and Calla shrieked up the stairs again in perfect harmony so she said her goodbye’s to Persephone and hurried downstairs. Not that she’d get any sort of answer anyway; answers were something Persephone actively did not believe in.

Calla was tapping her foot impatiently, the keys to the one crappy car the women owned hanging loosely out of the hand that was crossed under the other. Her plump, purple lips were pursed threateningly and her dark eyes flashed irritably. Blue had never been afraid of Calla, she’d had no reason to be, but she was constantly aware that Calla was a terrifying person. She could understand why her boisterous and outgoing mother had befriended the fiery Calla, but she’d had no idea where on earth they could have picked up Persephone, her quietness and want for solitude so different from the other two women. Blue moved her eyes from Calla to Maura, who was shaking her head exasperatedly at Blue’s persistent lateness. She pulled her into a hug and kissed the top of Blue’s spiky hair before releasing her and reaching down to help with the trunk. “Be good this year, Blue.” She said. “I think this one’s going to be a great one for you.” Maura stared off into the distance thoughtfully. Sometimes Blue didn’t know if it was for show or for any actual reason, but either way she didn’t put much stock in it.

“You said that last year.” Blue muttered.

Calla flashed her a look. “Well maybe it will come true this year.” She offered. “You never know.”

Laughing, Blue chucked her hand bag on the passenger seat and helped Maura and Calla lift the trunk into the boot. For someone who didn’t have a lot of money to buy much, she definitely had the capability to fill a trunk enough to make it heavy. After a moment of panting and staring at the trunk sitting on the back seat, Blue frowned. “We could have used magic for that.” She’d become used to not using magic casually outside of Hogwarts and automatically went to do something the muggle way, but Maura and Calla should have been able to use a levitating spell to put it in the back. Calla stared at her. “Merlin knows where our wands are, Blue.”

Calla was the only one out of the seemingly thousands of women that lived at no.3 Fox Way who could actually drive a muggle car as she and some of the other women worked as healers during the week at St. Mungo’s, and even then Blue wasn’t entirely sure she would make it to Kings Cross Station without dying on a roadside in the middle of Kent. She prayed she wouldn’t be sick as they skidded around steep bends on country roads and clutched the door handle next to her as Calla insisted on winding through cars on the motorway in an attempt to get there faster. Blue stopped herself from insisting that dying or being mortally wounded would not, in fact, make the journey quicker. She didn’t think Calla would like that very much at all so kept her mouth shut. Apart from the constant fear of death that Calla’s driving caused her, Blue very much enjoyed her journey back to school. It was the only time she got to get a really good look at the rest of the country that wasn’t either deep Scotland or the back end of Kent. One day she hoped to go even further than the motorway that joined her village with London. The Lovegood-Scamander Society for the Discovery of Magical Creatures was always recruiting and they’d had bases set up all over the place, but it was the one in Venezuela that made Blue the most excited. Fingers crossed she’d get to go after her NEWTs. Fingers crossed.

As usual, Kings Cross was packed full of people, muggle and wizarding alike. It was easy to tell them apart, the older wizards and witches still completely unaware of muggle fashion and therefore looking completely out of place. They’d probably look far less conspicuous if they’d worn the robes that were so customary for magical folk. Heaving Blue’s trunk onto a trolley, Calla bid her a quick goodbye and Blue hurried to platforms nine and ten with only ten minutes to spare. She’d have had fifteen to spare if Calla had for once remembered her fucking wand, Blue sighed bitterly, pushing the trolley as fast as she could through the barrier without drawing too much attention to herself, or sending the heavy load onto the tracks. If they’d had a wand, it wouldn’t have felt so heavy. Finally on platform nine and three quarters, she glanced at the clock. Five minutes before the train left. She had time. The crowd was beginning to thin out as most of the students had already got on the train, so she could make a beeline to the closest carriage and get on the train. As usual she was struggling with her trunk, but she didn’t have anyone to help her with it this year as she’d been running so late and growled at the stubborn thing. If she could just use a little bit of magic… but she couldn’t. Five months, she told herself, not long.

Once she’d finally got the back into the train, she wandered up to try and find an empty carriage. She was a well-liked girl, but didn’t like people very much. People were friendly, and she was vaguely friendly in return, but they were never friends. Therefore she could have easily sat in any Ravenclaw carriage and had a perfectly pleasant journey, but she always found that she preferred to sit on her own. Sometimes it was nice to have a break after the din that was home. With a lurch, the train started to set off and righting herself from where she’d almost tripped she made an executive decision to just sit down in the next coach with free seats before she really did look completely dense. She peered through the next booth window and barely held back a groan at who was sitting there. The Raven Boys. She’d nicknamed them that because of the perpetually sulky looking one that took his pet raven everywhere, much to the annoyance of their professors. The sulky one’s best friend, another Gryffindor, was the leader of their little gang and just like Sulky was never without the bird, his gang was always together. Blue scowled. Why did he always have to have a quill stuck behind his ear? Even in Ravenclaw they didn’t seek to excessively show off their academic prowess, but here was this Gryffindor, magnificent Captain Quill, insisting on looking completely pretentious. The weird Slytherin boy wasn’t with them, which was unusual, but Blue didn’t often pay him any mind; he was quiet and kept his head down during lessons, evidently trying not to draw attention to himself. And of course, there was Henry Cheng. Cheng was another Ravenclaw, but like everyone else Blue knew, she’d never before felt a particular pull to be friends with him, despite being in the same house. He was pushy to everyone and Blue just really wanted to be left alone.

But there wasn’t anywhere else for her to sit. If she hung around in the corridors any longer people would think she was weird or she’d end up falling over and wouldn’t that be the worst way to start the term? Muttering under her breath, Blue wrenched open the door to the booth and hauled herself and the trunk in. All four boys looked up at her. Cheng was the first to recover. “Sargent!” he exclaimed jovially, his arm twitching in a way that meant he’d been about to hold his fist out for a bump but simultaneously remembered Blue would not go anywhere near it. “Good summer?”

“It was fine.” Blue said shortly. “Mind if I sit here? Everywhere else is full.”

They all nodded. Well, apart from Sulky, who’d since deemed her uninteresting and gone back to staring moodily out of the window, the raven perched on his shoulder as always. Captain Quill was smiling warmly at her. She’d seen enough of that smile, the one that said very clearly ‘I always get what I want’. It had been used on students and teachers alike and as a result, this boy had the entire school wrapped around his little finger. Because of this, Blue had refused to learn his name on principle. Already made grumpier by the smile, her eyes slid to the other boy, who was pointedly not looking at her. She’d always thought him handsome in an angry, fearsome way; all harsh lines and deep-set dark eyes, a sharp mouth and cheekbones you could cut yourself on. There was a fire that burnt fiercely behind his harsh eyes but Blue had yet to decipher what he was burning. She could just about see the black tattoo weaving up his neck like vines underneath the fade of the buzz cut. She pulled her eyes away and lifted her trunk up onto the rack. Captain Quill made to get up and help her, but after a look from Henry that Blue just caught in the corner of her eye, he sat down again. Wise move, Cheng, Blue thought. He’d been put in Ravenclaw for a reason. She sat down heavily in her seat and made an effort not to look at them, even though they were clearly waiting for her to say something. Of course, Cheng was the first to break the ice. “Guys, this is Blue Sargent. She’s another ‘Claw.” He grinned and Blue couldn’t help but glance over for the introductions. He pointed at Captain Quill. “That’s Dick Gansey III, but-”

“Just Gansey, please.” Captain Quill replied in a pained voice. A posh, pureblood voice that matched his spotless robes and perfectly parted golden-brown hair. Blue wanted to gag.

Cheng ploughed on anyway. “That’s Ronan Lynch,” he pointed at Sulky, “and the bird’s called Chainsaw. Don’t ask, I don’t know either.” He smiled at her in what he evidently hoped was a comradely fashion, but it took Blue long to realise she should smile back. “And we’re usually joined by Adam, Adam Parrish, but he appears not to be here...” He trailed off, sharing a worried look with Gansey, while Ronan glowered. Completely nonplussed by that detail, Blue attempted a smile and a nod at the group, but before they could drag her into a conversation, she pulled a book out of her bag and began to read intensely.

Gansey watched her for a moment, trying to figure this strange Ravenclaw girl out. What an odd person. Striking, yes, but a scowl to her features that almost matched Ronan’s on a good day. No one could outdo a Ronan scowl on a bad day, so it almost wasn’t even worth mentioning. For a moment, he considered she might just be shy and only afraid to talk to them but if that were true, shouldn’t she have been more open to Henry, a fellow Ravenclaw and perhaps a friend? At least some sort of acquaintance. However, once the girl, Blue, had buried her head in a book, he turned back to the other two with far more pressing matters at hand. The disappearance of their friend Adam was slightly worrying, as the end of summer had always been a little unpredictable in terms of the Parrish family. Gansey didn’t like to think about it if he didn’t have to, but right now it was inevitable. If he hadn’t magically (no pun intended) appeared by the time they arrived at school he’d send out a search party to look for him, perhaps an army of house-elves. They’d always been particularly fond of him from his trips to the kitchen with Noah. Or maybe alert a member of the faculty to the other boy’s disappearance. He zoned back in and tried to focus on what Henry was saying.

“He might just be ill. You never know.” Henry shrugged, but it was half-hearted. They were just making excuses.

Ronan glared. “Shut the fuck up, Cheng. If he’s ill it’s because he’s a pulp-”

“Ronan.” Gansey reprimanded him. He let his eyes slip quickly to Blue, who was clearly listening. Too many people were curious about Adam; his placement in Slytherin an unexpected result of the muggle parents and scholarship status causing whispers and stares. If he was truly not okay, gossip would only make the situation worse when he returned. He would return.

Ronan looked less subtly at the girl until she averted her eyes back towards her book, then harrumphed grumpily before going back to his pastime of glaring out the window. Ronan had always been a tough boy to befriend for anyone apart from Gansey, but he had to admit it wasn’t just from his own merit. Both being part of a dying out breed of pureblood families, they were second cousins by blood and brothers by time. Even before Hogwarts the two had been inseparable, especially after Niall Lynch had been found dead just outside the estate by Ronan himself at the tender age of seven years old. The murderer had quickly been narrowed down to a rogue death-eater, one of the last after Voldemort’s downfall, not that the discovery of the killer had fixed the family dynamic. A distraught Aurora who couldn’t continue to raise her children; a confused and unhappy elder brother in the form of Declan who, even at only ten years old, felt the pressure to lead the family; Ronan furious at his mother’s inability to hold it together just enough to help her children; and tiny Matthew, just turned four and completely oblivious. The family leaned heavily on the Gansey’s for a long time, relying on them for emotional support. He’d never been able to drop that role, even at sixteen and teetering on the edge of adulthood. Gansey would not and could not ever leave Ronan to his own devices.

Ronan Lynch was sharp edges and harsh walls and a thirst for battle. He’d never managed to fully forgive his mother for her three year breakdown and in turn never managed to fully forgive Declan for giving in to her recovery so readily. His antics kept his family perpetually on edge, which wasn’t the best thing to force on his fragile mother, but the reasons that drove Ronan to be Ronan was unbeknownst to everyone, even Gansey. “Stop worrying, Dick.” He was snapping at Gansey. “He’s probably just gone in early for extra credit. Like the nerd he is.” Ronan Lynch was an unforgiving soul but Gansey was one of those rare exceptions where the effort was made to cheer him up. Gansey appreciated the sentiment behind the words, but none of them were stupid. The school had never in a thousand years opened before term officially started. But they couldn’t afford to worry for the entire train journey when Adam could simply be sitting somewhere else. Despite his rough edges, Adam was a likeable person and had probably just got on the train with a group of his housemates. He was probably talking to the other prefects- 

Gansey’s eyes widened before he groaned. “I know where Adam is.” Henry and Ronan stared at him. “He’s a goddamn prefect.”

The other two groaned loudly. “Jesus Christ.” Ronan rolled his eyes to the heavens. Of course. Adam had been made a prefect the previous year and they always met in the carriage at the top of the train with the head boy and girl on the journey back to Hogwarts, so they could perform some quick patrols along the carriages and discuss the plan they would follow for the rest of the year. That’s where he would be and in less than an hour he would return to the carriage probably absolutely fine. Gansey couldn’t believe he forgot. From Blue’s disbelieving stare at him across the carriage, she evidently thought he was being entirely dense as well. He was so used to worrying about his friend that he hadn’t stopped to think he might actually be absolutely fine. A lot calmer than he was a few moments ago, Gansey pulled his journal out of his bag and opened it to some point in the middle. “So over the holidays, I found some really interesting stuff on the second goblin rebellion of…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! This is my first thing I've ever posted so I hope you liked this first chapter! As most of the things I write, I wanted it and couldn't find quite the one I was looking for so I wrote one. Just as a warning, there will be a few OC to fill some space with classmates (particularly female ones) and teachers etc so if you don't recognize some names that's why. I can't tell you when I can update but it will hopefully be as regularly as possible, but I have jobs and trips and university to organize so it might be a bit all over the place. Hope you enjoy!! xxx


	2. Ace of Cups

It was easy to tune Gansey out once you knew how. Not that Ronan wasn’t interested in what he was talking about, but he really had no interest in what Gansey was talking about. A lot of the time, Gansey’s obsession of the moment included some more practical aspects like exploring the secret passages of the school and trekking over the countryside where they lived, but he had no time for what felt like extra history of magic lessons. As a ghost, Binns could teach them forever and ever and they’d never get someone more interesting in to take the class. He wasn’t sure how you could fire a ghost but Ronan was sure there had to be a way. Something like one of those fire guns they had in that muggle film. Ghostbusters. Surely they could come in and help him get rid of that bore. It would also be brilliant to threaten Noah with when he insisted on wailing through their dorm at ungodly hours of the morning. He’d shut up if there was a chance he could be shoved in a box. Maybe professor Binns could be shoved in a box too. It would have to be soundproof because he’d drone on forever without realising he no longer had an audience. He glanced back at Gansey and wondered if maybe a box could be created for Gansey to be shoved in when he went all ‘Gansey’ on them. Ronan frowned. Henry just made it worse by encouraging him. Adam would be on board with the box plan and like Binns, Gansey just wouldn’t notice and they’d be saved for an hour or two. Maybe he’d bring it up when he got back.

He was jolted from his reverie from a loud knock on the door, all four people in the booth looked up at the jarring noise (ugh, he’d forgotten that maggot girl was here) and at the sight of Joseph Kavinsky peering in through the window with his wide smile and unnerving eyes, Ronan grimaced. Without waiting for an invitation, Kavinsky threw open the door and swaggered inside, collapsing on the seat closest to him as if even standing was so beneath him it was a hardship to do.

“Morning, Gangsey.” He drawled, fiddling with the end of his green and silver tie and smirking at Ronan, clearly pleased with his pun. He received nothing more but a glare in return. Kavinsky’s world had been Ronan’s private escapism and that was a world that shouldn’t clash with the one he had above ground, the one he was more interested in keeping. Kavinsky didn’t care. Why would he? He flicked his dark, heavily lidded eyes towards Gansey. “You seen your pet yet, Dick?”

If Gansey was the sort of person to growl, he would have. If he was the sort of person to swear aggressively, he would have. But being Gansey, he merely stared, cold and aloof. “I’m sorry?” he replied in a monotone.

“Pet Parrish.” Kavinsky clarified, still smirking. “Looks like someone shoved him into the whomping willow.” He laughed, but the sound was mirthless. He looked back at Ronan. Henry barely got a glance. Ronan didn’t think Kavinsky even knew that the other girl was even there, let alone deem her worthy to hold his attention.

Ronan refused to give in to whatever Kavinsky seemed to want from him and instead looked at Gansey, where worry was very evident in his eyes. Gansey’s tone was still cold and his expression bored but this was a revelation they could have all done without and the tension in the room was tangible. “I’m sure I don’t know what you mean. Shouldn’t you get back to your ‘friends’? They’re probably in need of you.” The sarcasm that dripped off the word ‘friends’ was unmissable. Cronies would have been a better term for Prokopenko and the other brain-dead arseholes that followed Joseph Kavinsky around.

Another empty laugh. “My pets are not the ones you need to worry about, Dick.” Kavinsky got up, stretched and pointed the end of his wand at Ronan. “I was just trying to be helpful, maybe give you a heads-up before you shit your prissy pants at the sight of him. See you on the pitch, Lynch. Or maybe not. You don’t seem to have the balls anymore.” He let out a bark of laughter. “Probably too busy using them to fuck number three!” he left with a bang as loud as the one he’d entered with, twirling his wand around like a twat.

“I hate that prick.” Henry growled, staring after him. Gansey hummed in agreement and even the maggot in the other seat looked like she was seething with hatred. Ronan didn’t know if hatred was the right way to describe what he felt towards Kavinsky after the strange almost friendship that had flared up and down since knowing each other. Ronan could feel his end petering out but he could never really tell exactly how much by. Enough to stop hanging out with that gang? He hadn’t been to a meet up since April and had no further plans to go to another one anytime soon; they were never as much fun as he’d expected.

But Ronan had said that last year.

“He’s probably lying about Adam.” Gansey said nervously, staring at the door and wringing his hands. “Trying to get a rise out of us.” He looked at Ronan and the words that came out of his mouth could have been predicted even by someone as shit at divination as Ronan. “Stop going to his parties.”

“Wasn’t planning on it.” Ronan snapped cheerfully, pointedly avoiding Gansey’s eyes.

Gansey sighed. “I can tell, Ronan. I know you. Don’t go. It’s not worth it.”

“Isn’t it?” he kept up the cheerful tone in an attempt to infuriate his friend.

It worked. “No, Ronan. People who spend their life hiding in the shadows can never be worth it.”

“Which is why I. Wasn’t. Planning. On. It.” Ronan turned to spell it out very clearly and smiled sharply.

“You said that last year!” Gansey snapped.

Ronan rolled his eyes and tapped his wand irritably on the arm rest, sending out orange sparks. “Sure dad.”

“Don’t you dare.” Gansey went back to his journal, trying to calm himself. “Stop being such a little-”

“Gansey, leave it.” Henry cut in, glaring at them both. “Tell me what you know about the second goblin rebellion. I was interested.”

Well that was a lie if Ronan had ever heard one. No one had ever expressed an interest in the first goblin rebellion, let alone the second one. Snorting, Ronan turned back to Chainsaw, who was perched sulkily on his shoulder and currently refusing to be stroked. She hated Kavinsky as much as the others did and resented the midnight trips to the forest and the impromptu racing tournaments that Ronan always ended up taking part in. He frowned. Stupid bird.

They had all calmly gone back to what they’d been doing before, the boys keeping to themselves and looking at what could have been the most boring book in the history of the world, Blue back to her book about phoenix colonies. Blue was just thankful they weren’t bothering her with the mindless chatter she’d come to expect from her peers and she was still smarting from the interruption of Kavinsky. How she hated him. He stood for everything she loathed about Slytherins and those parties he held were dangerous; the forbidden forest was filled with a magnitude of magical creatures and surely the centaurs would have chased him off by now. She didn’t want to know what they’d attacked the creatures with to keep them at bay while they acted like the worst humanity had to offer. She’d caught on pretty easily to the fact that Ronan Lynch often frequented these parties and as she thought about it her anger surged. Pretentious, pureblood, little shit of a boy. They never had any idea what they were doing, or any care for their actions. Blue could feel her eyebrows knotting together and a frown marring her features as she glared at the Gryffindor but made no attempt to hide it.

“What’s your problem?” Ronan snarled when he saw her.

Blue glared.

He turned fully towards her. “C’mon. What’s the problem?” She could tell he was spoiling for a fight.

“Ronan.” Gansey said quietly, looking up from his book and looking at them both warningly. Stop this. If anything, the goaded Blue on more than Ronan’s aggression. Who was he to tell her what to do? Her lips tightened; he wasn’t going to get his way this time.

She looked back up at Ronan. “Kavinsky’s a little shit.” She spat.

“Duly noted. Your point, maggot?” he wasn’t even looking at her, he was staring out of the window with his dark eyebrows pulled together angrily.

A growl ripped its’ way out of her mouth. “And what do you think he does to keep everything in the forbidden forest away from his ‘parties’? I didn’t know the centaurs enjoyed that sort of shit.” Blue didn’t move her eyes from his face and was pleased to see his eyes narrow infinitesimally. Motivated by this, she pushed on. “What’s he doing to keep centaurs away?”

“Maybe they’re friends.” She could have slapped Ronan at this point.

“Please,” she scoffed. “Centaurs aren’t even friends with each other, let alone humans. Something that would keep a herd of them away is nothing but really dark magic.” She smiled tightly and looked back down at her book, pleased with her metaphorical mic drop.

But Ronan couldn’t just leave it. “Shut the fuck up. You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.” He snarled.

Blue looked back up. “Well, actually-”

The door slid open.

Adam Parrish did not look well. Despite the yellowing bruises on his jaw, cheekbone and temple and the way he cradled his wand arm, he still held himself tall and his shabby, second hand uniform was as immaculate as he could make it, the Slytherin tie straight and the prefects badge shining subtly on his robes. Blue had always thought him pretty; soft, rounded features but stark cheekbones and a thin, almost harsh, mouth. His hazel eyes were always slightly narrowed, the muscles on his temple always tensed and his elegantly arched eyebrows always slightly knotted. She’d yet to see him completely relaxed. The boy came in lifted his trunk onto the rack before sitting down next to Ronan, his expression tense and his eyes glinting in a way that meant anyone who brought it up would face dire consequences. Gansey though, evidently didn’t have a single degree of tact to his name and immediately started firing questions.

“Adam! Are you alright?” he reached out and tried to get a better look at the bruises. Adam flinched away, wincing as he twinged his wand arm. Gansey’s eyes widened, as did Henry’s. Ronan had gone a little pasty.

Adam took a deep breath. “Nothing that won’t heal.” He said firmly. “I tripped as I got on the train.” He had a soft country lilt to his voice that Blue found soothing. It was nice to see that at least one of them had some sort of normality to them.

“Bullshit.” Ronan growled. He looked like he was going to say more but Adam flicked his eyes to Blue, who was pretending she wasn’t listening any longer, and Ronan scowled before turning back to the window. Strange. Whatever had hurt this boy was something he didn’t want out in public, or to strangers. That just made Blue more curious. They’d been worried about him before, that he wasn’t on the train. Bullies? This was the ‘pet’ Kavinsky had brought up so maybe it had been him? But that was a strange thing to do; beat someone up, someone in your house no less, and then tell their friends about it. Kavinsky was definitely a weird one, but this was completely bonkers even for him.

Gansey was still pestering the poor boy. “What’s the matter with your arm? That’s your wand arm. Can you use it? We should take you to Madam Pomfrey when we get to school.”

“Gansey-” Adam started with a sigh.

“Can I have a look?”

“Gansey, it’s fine.”

“I bet there’s a spell to help.”

“It really is fine for the moment.”

“I know that, but it’s ridiculous that you have it in the first place.”

“It’s. Fine.”

“Adam, you keep saying that but I think we both know a broken wand arm isn’t really good news at all, is it?”

“Pomfrey will fix it when we get there.”

“I know, but is there anything we can do to help the pain.”

“It doesn’t hurt that much!”

They went back and forth, Gansey failing to notice the rising colour in Adam’s sallow face and the irritation that marred his features. Blue had never really considered Adam Parrish ‘sallow’ before in the few times she’d seen him, but he definitely looked it now. His sharp cheekbones actually jutted out and his deep-set eyes were actually sunken in and his pale skin now looked colourless. He looked very tired. What was someone who was friends with these Raven Boys doing looking so hard done by? What on earth did he have to worry about? Henry was flicking his fingers, probably checking off all the spells he knew that could help in any way. He was a bit like that, Blue had noticed. There was always a practical, magical resolution to everything if Henry Cheng was dealing with it. A characteristic that sat very comfortably on one side of the Ravenclaw trait spectrum. Blue had no idea where she sat, but it was sometimes very easy to see it in other people. Ronan’s expression was borderline funny in its blatant shock. He was staring at Adam’s bruises as if he didn’t want to believe what was in front of him. Something unrecognisable made Blue’s stomach clench at all these boys so clearly aggravated by one of their own being hurt. Pack mentality, she thought a little disdainfully.

“Gansey, leave it!” Adam snapped, his jaw so tight you could barely see his lips and his face flushed. He blinked slowly and took a breath. “I will be fine for the moment. I don’t want a scene.” Again, he looked at Blue and Gansey had the good grace to look a little sheepish. Bit rich of him to forget, Blue thought, as he’d made such an effort to keep her out of Adam’s business earlier. Gansey muttered what sounded like an apology and picked up his book.

“You’d probably find this interesting too, Adam.” Gansey picked up as if nothing had happened, a casual smile now plastered on his face. “I don’t know why Binns didn’t think to teach us about this but-”

“Because it’s about as boring as troll shit.” Ronan interrupted. Adam snickered.

Gansey looked earnestly at them. “Well, troll shit actually has some pretty important minerals in it. Often used to put off certain Lynch brothers from being twats, usually utilised by throwing.” He finished knowingly. The other three boys fell about laughing and Blue tried very hard to keep a smile from her lips.

“Point me in the right way then.” Ronan smirked, “I need to get some to deal with Declan.”

Blue started to tune out their banter as it became a lot more about inside jokes and strange history facts and she didn’t understand a word of it. She did, however, keep glancing at the arm that Adam Parrish cradled with growing concern. It wasn’t her business apparently to know how it had happened, nor did she particularly care to know how it had happened, but she did know the spell that could fix it. Blue was not a ‘nice’ person; the quality of being nice made her angry and seeing people that possessed it made her cringe. But she always made the effort to be kind. Being nice and being kind were completely different attributes and while ‘nice’ insinuated a do-gooder who would fill your ears with lies just to make you happy and make sure you had someone to go to the nurse with, kind was a much more practical form of charitability. Kindness was giving them the spell to fix a kids arm and saving them the apparent humiliation that was going to the hospital wing on the first day of term. Niceness was going with them and pouring sympathies down their throat. She’d always had a sympathy for people who had an eye for survival and Adam’s toughness was admirable.

But he was a Raven Boy. Surely he could just get one of his rich friends to pay for a new arm or persuade Madam Pomfrey under the guise of his scholarship to shower love and sympathy on him, as the poor boy who worked so hard just so he could make a difference. She knew that was probably very far from the truth in terms of Adam Parrish, but she had principles to upkeep, goddamn it. However there was something a little humbling about how he looked so determined to ignore it, no matter how much the train wobbled and jolted him about. Despite his expression remaining perfectly composed, Blue noticed that every few minutes when the train would bump, Adam got paler. Why couldn’t he just make a fuss and give her a reason to be angry with him? How selfish. But she knew the spell. She didn’t have to do it for him, but she could tell them what it is so they could help him. Blue had seen it performed so many times, not only on herself, and it was the most frequent one used by the women who worked at the hospital. “If you can get it right, this spell is a life-saver.” Calla told her every time she hurt herself. Adam didn’t seem to be in life-threatening danger right now, but she could save him a little bit of dignity. As if anyone in this little gang ever lost dignity, that is.

It wasn’t until the train had docked in Hogsmeade that she made her decision. Adam was facing a huge amount of trouble trying to get his trunk down and with an obnoxious sigh, Ronan reached up and pulled it down before turning to the bird without another word. Adam went crimson and muttered a half-hearted thank you before turning away. Just before Blue was completely out of the door she stopped. “Episkey.” She said quietly.

Henry was the only one that heard her. “What?”

She turned her head slightly so they could hear her. “The spell. For his arm.” She jerked her head in Adam’s direction. “It’s Episkey. And you can do it on yourself.” Blue looked at Adam to make sure he understood. You can be self-reliant. Before they could say anything else, she scarpered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're wondering about chapter names - the tarot cards match the theme of the chapter. So 'the tower' symbolises a big new beginning, while the 'ace of cups' sybolises new friends. So there's a bit of meta for you. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!


	3. The High Priestess

The only thing Adam truly enjoyed about the welcoming feast was the food. Not that he wasn’t fed at home, per se, but he definitely didn’t have a table that was laden so heavily with food that it sunk in the middle out in front of him at all times during the holidays. He could barely keep his mouth from watering at the very thought of it, but he still had the sorting ceremony to get through as well as the hats’ pointless song. Not that Adam wasn’t hugely passionate about his school and its’ traditions, but he thought there had to be a far more efficient way to sort the first years that wasn’t done one at a time. There was only one thing that made the sorting vaguely entertaining for him, but he had yet to appear. Adam did have friends in his own house that he sat with at meals, shared his dorm with and went to lessons with, and he genuinely liked them a lot. However... He hated to admit it, but on top of that, they weren’t Gansey, Ronan and Henry. Adam wasn’t quite sure what was so special about Gansey, Ronan and Henry, but when he’d met Gansey during his first trip on the Hogwarts express he learnt two things very quickly. One, Richard Gansey and Ronan Lynch were a package deal, and two, once Gansey was interested in being your friend it was all or nothing. Apparently Adam’s interest in learning obscure magical history facts constituted a firm basis for a lifelong friendship in Gansey’s book. Adam didn’t have the heart to ever tell him that when you were a muggleborn, even 'Hogwarts: A History' was interesting.

Since then, they’d been fast friends. He’d even warmed to Ronan and vice versa (he thought so, maybe, hopefully), despite Ronan’s initial hatred of Slytherin house. Henry had been picked up in their third year when he’d spent hours helping Gansey with his charms homework and discussing the possibility of being an animagus (there’d not been any progress and the dream had been safely dropped). It wasn’t abnormal to have your close friends in other houses but they’d been told there’d once been a time when it was weird to stray outside the people in your respective house. So maybe Gryffindor and Slytherin didn’t always get on, and there may have been a few people that had come from old, pureblood families that had inherited longstanding prejudices, but in general the houses got on well. Adam still thought the whole house deal was weird. Why segregate kids at such a young age and pit them against each other? They weren’t pitted against each other in the same way anymore, he guessed, and they had lessons with each other, but still. Weird. Probably a wizard thing.

“Oi, Parrish!” he was jolted from his reverie. Adam looked up to see his favourite dorm-mate, Frank Benjamin, snapping his long, elegant fingers in front of his face. “Wake up, man, it’s only the first day of school!”

Adam smiled wryly. “That’s the point.”

“You… you been getting some rest then?” Frank asked carefully. His smooth, dark skin crinkling between his eyebrows in a frown.

“I have been.” Adam asked shortly. Usually people didn’t ask him about home because he rarely answered.

Frank opened his mouth to reply but was cut off by a shout down the table. “Oi, Pet Parrish!” Joseph Kavinsky called over, his hands cupped around his mouth like a prick. “Number three manage to fix up your poor, sad face for you?” Adam stiffened.

“Ignore him, Adam.” Hissed Alison Burbage, a Slytherin girl Adam had also ended up making friends with. “He’s just trying to be a dick because of Lynch.”

That got his attention. “What about Ronan?”

Alison gave him a look. It was that look that had drawn him to being her friend in the first place, despite never quite knowing what it meant when it was directed at him. That and the utter verbal destruction of a student six years above them in their first year, after they’d had the nerve to question Adam’s position in Slytherin due to his heritage. Adam didn’t realise being muggleborn had ever been considered a bad thing and had no credentials to argue his case, especially as a first year in front of a seventh year, but Alison had. When your aunt had been slaughtered by the most evil dark wizard to exist because she believed muggles were people, you had some points to back up your argument. “Brushed him off today on the train.”

“Oh, I heard that too!” Jerimiah Dessecroix, another of Adam’s roommates, put in, his green eyes sparkling with excitement at the possibility of fresh gossip.

Adam scoffed. “He brushes everyone off. He’s a dick.”

Jerimiah turned to him. “Yeah, but he didn’t even start a fight! Adam, they’re like your best friends, weren’t you there?”

“I was in the prefects’ cabin for a lot of the journey, I probably missed him.” He shrugged. Alison nodded; she was the other Slytherin prefect.

“Well the twist is that Gansey doesn’t have to stop him sneaking out to K’s start-of-term party tonight.” Noah said, making them all jump. Noah Czerny was not technically a student at the school but he had been, a student who’d died in the Great War, like some of the other new(ish) ghosts there. Not many of the fatalities had returned, but Noah said he just wanted to see his sisters. How Gansey had managed to befriend a ghost of all things so closely without even being the same house was a mystery, but as such Noah had decided the four of them were his new best friends. The other friends and students had just got used to his sudden appearances.

Noah was what made the sorting ceremony interesting. This was mainly because he clearly didn't care that much about 'respecting the sanctity of the ceremony'.

Frank put a hand over his heart. “Don’t fucking do that, I almost had a heart attack.” Noah grinned, his silvery hair flopping over his translucent face.

Jerimiah shushed them. “What was that?”

“He’s chosen not to go.” Noah gushed. Adam rolled his eyes at them both; Noah and Jeremiah were like two peas in a pod when it came to gossip.

“Lynch?” Jerimiah answered, his jaw practically on the floor.

Noah nodded enthusiastically. “He keeps insisting he’s not planning on going.”

Adam narrowed his eyes. That was a bit abnormal. Gansey lecturing him on the ‘dangers’ of the situation was completely normal and happened two to three times a week, but usually Ronan just kept quiet and nodded patronisingly at intervals. “He always goes.” He said slowly.

Four heads turned to look at him curiously. “Does he?” Alison asked. “Always?”

“He’s never missed one, I don’t think. Or he doesn’t often.” Noah nodded his head in agreement.

“Weird…” Frank mused.

The only thing that was ‘weird’ was that Ronan Lynch was a topic of gossip amongst his peers. Okay, yeah, there were some strange rumours surrounding Gansey and his motley crew, but they didn’t do enough to be constituted as ‘hot gossip’. He said as much. “Since when is Ronan Lynch a topic of gossip?” he muttered.

“Since he has the power to make Joseph Kavinsky agitated.” Jerimiah said, his eyes alight. “It’s a monumental occasion.”

Adam pursed his lips, but before any of them could reply, a hush fell over the room as Headmistress McGonagall took the centre stage. She was a fearsome woman, Scottish with a heavy, sharp accent and eyes that flashed in a way that suggested she was perpetually angry at something, or everything. She’d been in the Great War, she’d taught Harry Potter, she’d survived five stunning spells to the chest, the whispers said. Adam could believe it. There were some faces you could just look at and within seconds understand that they’d seen shit and they were also under no circumstances going to take shit. He imagined that the last person to be rude to Minerva McGonagall didn’t make it much further.  
“Good evening!” She said to them all, her voice carrying across the hall. “I hope you will all join me in welcoming our new first years to the school. Let the sorting begin!” Another reason Adam liked the headmistress so much was that she was not a waffler. The hat was brought out and they all watched it expectantly. He could never take the hat’s songs seriously. Every year, Gansey would sit down and try and pick apart the song in an attempt to decipher some bigger meaning, but he’d always come up with nothing. Adam didn’t understand; he was at a school for people with magic and he wanted something more? Maybe it was different when you weren’t muggleborn. With a sigh, he turned his attention back to the hat. The lip of the raggedy hat opened and it began to sing.

Once again, the year begins  
And I am brought outside.  
I say a goodbye to my stand,  
Where for the time I do abide.

But do not fear my presence  
Because for a year I hide away,  
I have a job to do, you see  
Which is why I’m here today.

It has been my role for many years  
To tell you where you ought to be;  
When the founders couldn’t decide  
They gave the choice to me.

Gryffindor was the first  
To tell me what he desired,  
Bravery, tenacity and honour he told me,  
Are what he wanted inspired.

As you wish, I told him  
I know which you want as your own.  
The ones who make it to Gryffindor  
Have the seeds of glory sown.

Though if that is not the case,  
And there’s somewhere else you wish to be,  
Maybe go to the crafty Slytherin  
Where ambition and cunning are key.

So to Slytherin I make sure to gift  
Those students who match his ways.  
Anyone can be given power, he said,  
But its ambition that sets power ablaze.

Ravenclaw was next in line,  
And she made it clear she disagreed.  
Knowledge is power, she was sure,  
An educated mind is what will exceed.

If learning is your pleasure,  
I would steer you towards Ravenclaw,  
Where wit is always treasure  
And lack of knowledge makes men poor.

Dear Hufflepuff was the last  
To come to me and decide  
On the students that she wished to teach  
And when she came forward she cried:

What does it mean, she asked me  
When people wish to split?  
Surely they have to be aware,  
That this isn’t simply it?

She would wish to educate,  
Those that always know  
Loyalty, kindness and selflessness  
Are what makes a soul grow.

Forgive me for that lengthy song,  
I have too much time to my thoughts,  
But I think you all realise now  
That my job is not just to sing and sort.

What the other three never knew,  
And Hufflepuff so clearly did,  
Despite the importance of the individual  
Is there not something bigger on the grid?

I hope I can tell you here and now  
That even though you are split by type  
You must remain together  
When something awakens here in the hype.

But do not let me scare you  
On your first day back with us all,  
There’s something coming though do not worry,  
You must only seek it if you have the gall!

So welcome first years, do not fret,  
We’ve all been here before,  
I welcome you to Hogwarts School  
Where we will find your ‘something more’!

The lip of the hat closed and the hall erupted into clapping, though Adam’s classmates started giving each other shifty looks. He couldn’t deny there was something about the song that seemed a little more omniscient than the previous ones, but surely when you’d been sorting students for over a thousand years you become a little omniscient? Noah pursed his lips and frowned, leaning in to whisper in Adam’s ear. “It hasn’t said anything so ominous since I was here.” He said.

“When was that?” Adam replied, trying to count back the years.

Noah thought for a moment. “Um… the darkest song must have been 1996. I was thirteen and you-know-who had killed a student.” Most people still called the dark wizard ‘you-know-who’ as even though he was well and truly dead, people were still afraid. The only ones Adam had heard using the name were Gansey and Kavinsky; Gansey was just like that and Kavinsky was a piece of shit.

“Hmm… strange.” Adam murmured, biting his lip.

“As a word of advice, avoid Gansey on your way to the dorms.” Noah was looking over the tables. “I can see him analysing from over here.”

“Noted.” Adam sighed thankfully.

As predicted, Adam could see his friend trying to catch his eye meaningfully from across the room during the feast and not for the first time was Adam relieved that his prefect duties could steal him away from whatever Gansey was excited about now. As soon as the feast was over and McGonagall announced that the prefects should lead their house to the dormitories, Adam grabbed Alison and they herded the first years towards the Slytherin house. The password was said, the tour was given and once they’d all been sent off, Adam collapsed onto his four poster in the dorm he’d had for the past five years and groaned as the side of his torso stretched out uncomfortably. The bruises on his rib would probably take a lot longer to heal, but no one needed to know that. He stared up at the green canopy above him and thought of the girl in the carriage earlier, flexing his newly healed wrist in front of him. She was that girl in Ravenclaw that Henry always talked about being weird and standoffish. Teaching him a healing spell didn’t feel standoffish. Adam’s last thought before he fell asleep was about how he should probably thank her.

While Adam Parrish drifted into slumber, the same could not be said for his best friend Gansey or any of Gansey’s housemates. He’d spent the rest of the meal speaking what sounded like complete gibberish to anyone who’d listen as well as everyone who wasn’t listening, and after glancing at each other with exasperated eye rolls and calmly going back to their meal, his friends and classmates gave up. If Ronan hadn’t been Ronan, they would have spared him a pitying glance as he would bear the complete brunt of Gansey’s newest obsession. Again, if Ronan hadn’t been Ronan, someone would have jumped in to save him from Gansey’s attention; he’d already been berated soundly for the idea that he would be going to a party he hadn’t gone to yet and was emphatically denying the possibility of him going. They liked Gansey, they really did, but sometimes it was better for your mental wellbeing to just drown him out. He’d continued on his spiel on the awakening of what he believed to be the great wizard Merlin all evening and through the night, sat up in the Gryffindor common room with numerous text books on the subject.

He continued this in the morning and people were starting to admire the ability of the sixth year Gryffindors to nod and ‘mm-hmm’ enough to keep the guy satisfied without taking in a single word. They were all thankful that no one took Ancient Runes with him. To be honest, there was a certain amount of thankfulness that they didn’t take ancient runes at all but this morning it was doubled by the fact they got to escape Gansey. Ronan didn’t and again, they would have felt sorry for him, if he hadn’t been Ronan. Ronan Lynch treated sympathy like most people treated dementors; something to be afraid of and a bit soulsucking. More than a bit. Gansey dragged his friend down to ancient runes, still yabbering away. “I would say that 'An Ancient History of the Magicks in Britain' does have a point about the existence of Avalon, however I doubt it would be here. 'Hogwarts: A History' does list the Great Lake as a potential candidate for the Lake of Avalon, but I can’t put much stock in that particular theory. For one, the wildlife wouldn’t populate somewhere radiating that sort of magic. It would put them off, I think. But every book on this claims that his place of rest is here, at Hogwarts, and that was why the founders chose it.”

Ronan wasn’t listening and didn’t make any effort to hide that fact. “This lesson is bullshit.” He muttered.

Gansey broke off and glared. “You’re only taking it because you’re good at it. You got an ‘O’ last year without doing a single bit of work. Can’t you for once take that for granted?”

Ronan frowned and slumped down into the first seat he saw, back left. Gansey sighed and sat down next to him. In these moments, Gansey worried that Ronan was just taking him for granted. In these moments, Ronan worried that Gansey thought something like that. “At least I don’t have to do charms anymore.” Ronan muttered, and the short argument was both won, lost and dropped by both. That neutrality over disagreements was what kept their friendship together.

Before Gansey could reply, the last of the students taking this class had sat down and their professor took the stage. Professor Whelk was a ratty, sallow man; pale skin framed by short black hair that never seemed to have been washed. He reminded Gansey of that teacher he’d seen in 'A Modern Wizarding History' about the Great War; Severus Snape, Gansey thought his name was. Although claimed to be a crucial player in it and spoken of by the great Harry Potter as one of the bravest men he ever knew, Gansey couldn’t say he liked him very much. Sure, he’d done some great things, but he’d joined Voldemort in the first place, hadn’t he? Maybe he’d done it all for love, but Gansey thought it all seemed a bit creepy that this guy never moved on. Whelk reminded Gansey of a watered-down version of that Snape person. Rude to his students and perpetually solitary, he acted as if people did this to push him away rather than cutting himself off. But as much as he disliked him, Gansey couldn’t deny that Whelk was very good at ancient runes. He wished he was as good as Ronan at translating them. The Lynch brothers had been gifted three main assets, if you could call them that, by their parents; an arsenal of hexes powerful enough to win any duel, lessons in a multitude of obscure muggle instruments and an acute knowledge of ancient runes. But no, Gansey had to actually work if he wanted to be good at them while Ronan practically spoke it.

Halfway through the lesson he suddenly remembered that there had been a passage he’d been reading last night where sections of Merlin’s original writings had been relayed, none of which he could translate fully. When the class had been set with their translations, Gansey shoved his hand in the air and Whelk beckoned him over, looking as bored as usual. He grabbed the book out of his straining bag and brought it to the desk at the front of the room. Whelk eyed it suspiciously. “That’s not the passage I’ve set, mister Gansey.”

“Yes, no, I mean, yes I know. But I was reading this last night and I was hoping that you could translate a few lines for me that I couldn’t quite understand.” Gansey replied with most persuasive smile.

Whelk eyed him warily once more. “Which ones?”

Gansey heaved the heavy, leather book onto the desk with a thump over Whelk’s marking and opened it to his bookmark. “Here.” He pointed to the end of the page. “I understood the general gist of what the rest of it was saying; the story of Arthur building the citadel of Camelot and his subsequent death upon its’ completion, but there was this final note that I didn’t understand?”

Gansey looked up to see his professor eyeing him. “What’s this for, Gansey?”  
Without meaning to, he could feel his eyes lighting up, as they often did when he was interested. “I’ve been doing some research into what the hat meant yesterday. It talked about a great awakening and searching for something, which all seemed awfully familiar to me. Then I got it! I’d been reading over the summer holidays and something had come up about the awakening of a great magic. When the hat brought it up, I originally assumed the founders, although since I have been assured they are well and truly dead. But then I suddenly remembered the myth we looked at in history of magic last year about the awakening of Merlin and it hit me; this is the year Merlin is going to wake up, I just have to find him!” Gansey finished the retelling of his thought process with a wide grin and waited for a reply.

Whelk looked at him carefully. “The text from Merlin’s notebook at the bottom claims that ‘when Albion’s need is greatest, Arthur will rise again’. Not Merlin. I’m also not sure either the muggle or wizarding worlds have any great need. Don’t you think he would have awoken when Voldemort rose if these myths were true?”

“Oh, thank you!” Gansey smiled. “But the story of King Arthur is a muggle myth. Maybe there doesn’t need to be a reason, maybe he’s just going to be woken up! Like destiny.”  
Whelk’s eyes had become noticeably colder and more suspicious during the course of their conversation and he tugged on the end of his long sleeves agitatedly. “I think this is all I can help you with, mister Gansey. Maybe you should return to your translation.”

Gansey went.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The High Priestess symbolises knowledge and learning, for anyone who was interested as to why I chose this card as the title for this chapter. Also I know Adam doesn't have many friends in the original books but he's a likable guy goddammit and he's made a few friends fight me on this I dare you. They all spend so much time at school it's impossible that he hasn't made at least a few friends in his own house. Hope you enjoyed this chapter! 
> 
> P.S - writing sorting hat poetry is fucking hard I was up until like 2am with this shit, Joanne you have my eternal admiration you make this all look easy.


	4. The Fool

The next week carried on fairly simply; lessons, meals, meeting up with the gang during breaktimes and soaking the last of the sun. Henry didn’t think life could ever get much better than what it was right in that moment. NEWTs were underway; he could finally drop all the subjects he hated and be left to do what he really enjoyed. Not that he actually knew what that was just yet, but he knew what he didn’t hate so he could start there. He didn’t have any long term goals yet, but he had started seriously thinking about the idea of animagi. It had come up a while ago when he and Gansey had first made friends, but had been dropped. Since then, Henry hadn't been totally able to drop it. But wouldn't that would be a cool aspiration to have? What animal would he choose? Maybe something really useful. A bird would be good, he could fly! Maybe a raven? Oh, no way. As much as he had begun to warm to Ronan’s sour personality, he didn’t really want to be that closely associated with him. Maybe Chainsaw would hit on him. Not ideal, really. A bee would be pretty sick, he could get into small spaces and it would be great to spy on people… imagine the pranks they could pull if he was a fucking bee. No one would see it coming. Though he’d have to be careful about stinging people. He didn’t want to die in bee-form because he’d got angry with someone. Would a lion be a bit too in your face? He knew the headmistress could turn into a cat, but maybe a lion would get in the way.

He was in the midst of a day-dream about what he could achieve if only he could be a lion when someone bumped his shoulder hard. “I would be a lion!” he blurted, jumping violently. He looked up to see Gansey and Ronan staring at him, completely baffled. Ronan looked like he was trying not to laugh. He failed and a snigger escaped.

Gansey polite as ever, pushed on through. “I’m sure you would be. Though we were hoping we could meet in the Library tonight during prep and you being a lion might take up a lot of room. Not to mention you’d scare the first years.”

“No, don’t worry. Not a lion this time.” Henry grinned. “Gang meeting? Have you told Parrish?”

Gansey sighed. “We’re not a gang, Cheng. So we can’t have gang meetings. Can’t we just… hang out?”

Henry stared wide-eyed at him. “Never try and use colloquial language again, Gansey-boy.”

Gansey rolled his eyes. “Fine. No meetings. Just friends.”

“Got it.” Henry saluted.

“And Ronan told Parrish in potions earlier.” Gansey clarified.

After the time had been confirmed in that official way that only happened with Gansey, he and Ronan moved away up the Great Hall to the Gryffindor table and joined the rest of their house. Henry turned back to the table and stuck his fork into his sausages and mash, which had started to get cold. Opposite him, Magnolia Enlitthaus was making heart eyes at the retreating Gryffindors and sighing. Henry snorted and went back to his food. Henry Broadway, who had since been named Chengtwo in order to differentiate, guffawed and shoved lightly with his shoulder. “Get it together, Mag. Dick’s got his sights set on a long-dead wizard. You don’t have a chance.”

Magnolia rolled her eyes at him and shook her head exasperatedly. She was a very pretty girl with soft features and long wavy hair, but definitely one of the academic Ravenclaw’s who didn’t do much beyond eat, sleep and work. Having said that, she did give herself free time for some particular non-academic pursuits. “I don’t care about Dick Gansey.” She sighed.

“I’m sure Henry is very offended.” Chengtwo replied, reaching out a hand to clap Henry’s shoulder. Henry nodded, his mouth turned down into a frown. It didn’t quite have the effect he was looking for though as his mouth was full of food.

With a wave of his wand, Logan Rutherford, who was sitting on the other side of Chengtwo, created a tiny violin that played a few seconds of sad music before disappearing. “You’ve broken his heart, Mag.”

“As sure as I am that Henry wishes he was the one that Gansey has his eye on, he doesn’t catch mine.” Magnolia graced the boys with a rare laugh. To be fair, Logan’s violin thing was a pretty sick piece of magic. “I was looking at Lynch’s crow. That thing’s beautiful.”

“It’s a raven.” Henry corrected, waving his fork at her. “If you’re going to commit bestiality I would suggest you learn the animals breed first.”

“Shut up, Cheng.” Magnolia sighed. She did a lot of sighing when she was with them. “It’s fucking magnificent. Where am I going to get a bird like that?”

“Yeah, well you have already have a bird.” Logan pointed out. “Don’t get greedy.”

“Jess doesn’t count!” Magnolia retorted, throwing her hands up in the air.

“Well that’s rude. What have I done this time?” Jess Heninway dropped down into the seat next to them and kissed her girlfriend on the cheek.

“Magnolia wants a new bird.” Logan explained.

Jess pulled her dark dreadlocks out of her face and twisted them into an elaborate knot before shoving her wand through it all to hold it in place. “Well you’ve got me for the moment.”

Chengtwo sniffed comically. “Well I believe ‘bird’ is degrading to women.” He said, trying to catch Jess’s eye. It really was quite sad to have a crush on a lesbian in a long term relationship. Henry almost fainted from the second hand embarrassment.

“Shut the fuck up, Chengtwo, it was a fucking pun.” Logan said without even looking up. Henry looked at the two girls to gouge their reaction, but they weren’t even listening anymore. Completely distracted. Jess was Magnolia’s other ‘pursuits’. How she’d found a girlfriend when she didn’t have any free time was beyond him. Henry gave himself loads of free time and not a single girl gave him a second glance. Why could lesbians find each other so easily? It should be easier for him in this heteronormative society; there was still no way to tactfully ask if someone was gay so how did they find each other? He’d read somewhere that lesbians could smell each other with secret gay pheromones, so they evidently had a more efficient evolutionary tactic up their sleeve. The muggles had already worked out a way to procreate without needing men at all using bone marrow cells so god knows what witches could complete on top of that with magic on their side. He eyed his friends warily. Women, primarily lesbians, primarily magical lesbians, were probably going to take over the world someday. He’d better keep these ones on his side.

“Cheng!” Logan snapped his fingers in front of his face and Henry jolted violently out of his reverie.

“Lesbians are going to take over the world!” he blurted. They all stared at him.

Damn. He needed to stop doing that.

******  
‘Lesbians were going to take over the world’. Honestly. Henry Cheng was a bit of an idiot, Blue thought disdainfully as walked through the shelves to a table at the back of the library. Madam Pince had already pissed her off by shrieking about 'defacing' the book that wasn't even from the library. The book was from home, so she thought she was allowed to make some notes in the margins if the owner didn’t mind. Persephone didn’t mind too much about anything, so she hadn’t cared about any note taking. She’d probably think it was printed there to begin with. So now, pissed off and tired, she thought of the conversation she heard by that stupid Raven Boy just so she could have something more tangible to be mad at. Just because she was self-aware about it, didn’t stop it being really quite satisfying. Blue was warming more and more to the nickname she’d given those boys because it was ridiculous but also vaguely condescending, which was an aesthetic she approved of.

She bagged one of the smaller tables by the window and pulled out her book. She’d finished the one on Venezuela and was now onto 'Fear and Flames: Dragons in the Wild'. Although dragons had never been Blue’s particular specification she still found herself incredibly interested in them. There was a park in Romania where they studied them which she really wanted to visit at some point. The back of the library was always quiet during prep as the younger years had to do theirs in the Great Hall, so Blue was starting to settle easily into her book quickly in her private spot. She’d barely finished the chapter when a head popped through the wall. The silvery head of the boy with a smudgy face wasn’t very visible in the bright firelight, but Blue could recognize him. The large shadow on the side of his head was a dead giveaway. No pun intended, though it was the sort of thing Noah would have appreciated. “Blue!” he exclaimed happily. Noah was the name that Blue dropped when her family criticised her for having no friends. They didn’t need to know he was dead; he was still her friend.

“Hi Noah.” She folded down the corner of her page and put the book aside. “How’s the u-bend?”

Noah drifted fully through the wall and into the room. “Oh ha-ha. Not too bad, though if I have to hear one more thing about Merlin I might die. Again.”

“What have you been hearing about Merlin?” Blue asked, her curiosity sparked.

Noah frowned. “What haven’t I been hearing about Merlin?” he shook his translucent head. “The long and short of it: that he’s waking up this year because the hat said so.”

Blue tried not to scoff. She failed. “It said nothing of the sort.”

“Try telling Gansey that.” He sniffed. Blue rolled her eyes. Why Noah was such good friends with those boys she’ll never know. But Noah was friends with everyone; there was something so endearing about him and it was easy to like someone who didn’t hate anyone. Actually, that wasn’t true. He hated Professor Whelk, but he never wanted to tell her why for some reason. It took all of Blue’s willpower to refrain from pressing him on the subject but she made the effort. They both jumped at the sound of a group of boys crashing up the stairs. “Shit, Gansey!” Noah groaned. “The guy’s fab but if I hear another word on this subject I might actually try to pass on. See you, Blue!” he disappeared through the wall. Blue picked up her book again and scowled down at the words. How typical for Gansey to try and wake Merlin so he could have all that glory. Naïve of him to think that was what the hat was saying. The sorting had spouted crap every year and no one ever listened to it, so why pick up on it now? She looked back down at her book huffily and tried to tune the boys out.

Easier said than done when they were louder and more excitable than a pack of puppies. Even worse, Parrish had caught her eye on the rare occasion she looked up and waved his wrist around, to prove it was fixed. He’d even mouthed ‘thank you’ at her. That was not what she’d signed up for when she gave him that spell. She’d signed up for ‘I’m a kind person and now you can be self-sufficient and go back to not needing anyone especially me’. She blushed scarlet and looked back down at the page, not reading a single word. Blue couldn’t take in a single word of her book but damn, Gansey was persistent. He sounded like a man possessed talking about this history shit; he sounded more into it than more Ravenclaws about his subject. Why was he in Gryffindor again? She shook herself. Why should she care? She looked back down at the picture of the Norwegian Ridgeback in front of her and tried to pull her attention away from this cock-and-bull story about the Rise of Merlin. 

“…. Been predicted!” she caught the end of a sentence and froze. Predicted? What had been predicted? If anything this big had been predicted, surely someone at home should have mentioned it?

Thankfully, Parrish asked the question for her. “Wait, say that again. What’s been predicted?”

“The rise of Merlin.” Gansey said emphatically. She could hear the grin in his voice as he spoke.

Lynch was the next to voice her thoughts for her. “And why should we care?”

Gansey huffed. “Because they think he’d buried here. He’s destined to awaken here. Hogwarts: A History claims there are three places it could be, the-”

Blue felt the cogs in her brain starting to turn. Had she ever heard it mentioned before in the house? The card she’d picked the day she’d returned to Hogwarts suddenly felt a lot heavier.

“But I swear the story is that he’ll return when ‘Albion’s need is greatest’?” Adam interrupted Gansey’s spiel, biting his lip and frowning. “Even if he was buried here, why would he wake up now and not for the Great War?”

“That’s the muggle version for the story of King Arthur,” Gansey explained patiently, his hands all over the place, “the wizarding version is that he just wakes up when you wake him.”

Blue hadn’t even realised she was watching them and flicked her eyes back down to the book, trying to drown them out in the rustling of the other students in the room. Why did they have to sit so close to her particular spot?

“What would the point be if we did?” Cheng asked sensibly. “Like, not that it wouldn’t be pretty cool to meet Merlin, but what do we do then? ‘Ah mate, thanks for waking up. K, bye’?” the others laughed.

“It’s said,” Gansey replied, “that whoever wakes him is privy to his teachings.”

“No one knows what ‘privy’ means, Gansey.” Adam said.

“Basically, he’ll teach us what he knows.” Seriously, why wasn’t Richard Gansey a Ravenclaw? “Think of the honour!” Oh, that’s why. How very Gryffindor of him. There was another pause. She imagined they were all nodding pretentiously. Even the bird. She stifled a laugh at the image.

“Why do you think it’s going to happen this year?” Henry asked.

Gansey snorted. “Because it’s destiny, Henry! The hat sung about an awakening, so why shouldn’t it be this year? Why shouldn’t it be us?” Blue had to give it to him, he’d make a fantastic politician. Though with a mother who was running for Minister of Magic, it was probably in his genes.

“Fine. Sure.” Cheng said. “I’m in. Might make the year more interesting.”

“I… I don’t know…” Adam said tersely. “With all this NEWT work…”

“C’mon Parrish. Don’t be a pussy.” Lynch was evidently on board.

There was a sigh. “Fine.” Adam didn’t sound too happy about it.

Blue thought back to the card she’d picked on the first of September. It felt to her like it had a whole lot more meaning to it now there was a possibility Merlin was going to wake up. That really would be an upheaval and a very sudden change. There would be a possibility of disaster if they were all looking for an ancient wizard… Hang on. Where did this ‘all’ come from? She wasn’t a part of this. Especially with those boys. Nope. No way. The clock chimed ten o’clock and very relieved she made use of the excuse for and escape and before the clock had finished chiming, she’d got up and left the library. Keep your head down, Blue, she told herself. Stay out of all this raven boy business.

She had, however, caused quite the scene. Everyone looked up as her book clattered to the floor from the chair, all having jumped at the same time. The boys on the sofa shared a look. She really was quite a strange girl, Gansey thought, staring after her. Intriguing though, completely intriguing. A total oxymoron. She wanted to ignore everyone but she let herself be introduced; she picked a fight with Ronan but it was about treatment of the magical creatures in the forest; she clearly didn’t care about how Adam got hurt but she gave him the spell to fix his arm. He stared a little more, his brow crinkling. He barely noticed Adam go up to retrieve her book from where it had fallen to the floor.

“She’s reading about dragons.” He observed. 

Gansey looked up. “Hmm?”

Adam raised an eyebrow. “She was reading about dragons. This is her book that she left. I can give it back to her tomorrow, she’s in my potions class.” He slipped it in his bag.

“We’d better clear off, it’s ten o’clock.” Henry said through a yawn. It came out more like “weesadberclererfeshen…o’clock.”

“English, Cheng?” Ronan snorted.

“Fucking leave. It’s ten.” The boy stretched his tan arms over his head until his shoulder joints cracked. “We’ll get back to Merlin tomorrow, yeah?”

“Sure.” Replied Gansey, barely keeping the smile off of his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ngl I really loved writing Henry's friends for some reason - it flowed really easily and they're my favourite OC's so far. Henry Cheng is a gift and deserves everything and I'm really sad he didn't get more screen time in the books! In case you were wondering about the title, I don't know why but I always associate Henry Cheng with 'the fool' card and it's meanings (big beginnings in your life, but also leaving something behind) and he's also kind of the 'fool' in the Gangsey so I thought it fits well. So this chapter is dedicated to Henry :D hope you enjoy!


	5. Two of Wands

The next morning, Adam carefully placed Blue’s book on dragons in his bag and slung the strap over his shoulder before heading downstairs to breakfast. It was the only meal in the day he didn’t eat with his house and sure enough, Henry had already joined Gansey and Ronan at the end of the Gryffindor table and all three were shovelling food into their mouths. Ronan was also pushing food towards Chainsaw, who was picking at some toast. On his way over, he waved brightly at Charity, who’d shouted his name from where she was sitting with her Ravenclaw friends, and sat down next to Henry who attempted to say hello through what appeared to be two sausages in his mouth. Adam snorted as he started to put food on his plate and responded more coherently. “Morning.” He greeted them all.

Henry swallowed and grinned. “Gansey’s excited.” He said, but his explanation was redundant; Gansey was practically vibrating in his seat as he pored over the book in front of him. He made eye contact with Ronan. This was often done at times to express distaste for something; their own particular version of looking into the camera on ‘The Office’. Not that Ronan had much idea what he was talking about, but he understood the concept of muggle television and cameras so was able to get the gist. Ronan sniggered and Adam tried not to laugh at poor, enthusiastic Gansey. The boy in question hadn’t even looked up beyond a brief greeting so there was little chance they would have the pleasure of his company until he’d finished making his notes on the scrap of notepaper Adam had given him. Wizards weren’t too well-versed on ‘muggle contraptions’ but even though Adam had to do all his official school work on parchment, he point blank refused to carry around so many rolls of the stuff when he could shove an A5 notebook in his bag to take notes on. Needless to say, Gansey had absolutely loved it and fast forward two weeks Cheng had already started a petition to stop using parchment in favour of more efficient means. McGonagall hadn’t been pleased and he hadn’t won his case.

He was just about to ask if that case had been taken any further when something hit the back of Ronan’s buzzed head with a loud thwack. Swearing colourfully and loudly, Ronan was wrenched out of staring into the space just left of Adam’s shoulder and twisted round to see what it was. Now his back had been turned to them, Adam could see the tattoo that wound around his neck above the collar of his robes and Adam knew continued down the expanse of his back. A wizarding tattoo, costing more money than Adam even wanted to think about, that moved and reformed according to Ronan’s mood and actions. Now, Adam could see the end of a thick, black tendril flicking around agitatedly on the back of Ronan’s neck. A piece of paper had been lobbed at his head, which he leant down and picked up, searching the hall for whoever threw it. Adam frowned. You didn’t need three guesses to know who the culprit was and sure enough, Kavinsky was hooting loudly over the tables at Ronan. Jaw tight, Ronan opened the piece of paper and Adam craned his neck over to see what was written.

_Won’t your girlfriend ever give you a night off, Lynch?_

It was written in Kavinsky’s sharp, spiky lettering, ink splattered across the page where he’d evidently pushed the end of the quill down too hard. Apparently he thought it made him look tough. Adam disagreed. Adam thought it made him look like a twit. He let out a long breath threw his nose and turned back to his breakfast. There was only so much they could do to stop Ronan going to Kavinsky’s shitty parties and in the end Adam knew he wouldn’t listen. They couldn’t defeat Ronan’s demons for him, but sure as hell Gansey was going to try.

“Ronan, don’t.” The light in Gansey’s eyes had gone out. He was looking imploringly at Ronan as if simply asking was going to do anything.

Ronan didn’t answer, but crumpled up the note and left it in a scrunched mess on the table in front of him. But the tattoo was retreating sulkily to the back of his neck, contradicting the look on his face. He glared at Henry and Adam as if they were going to try to say anything, but it was only Gansey still talking. It seemed odd that all three of them had become so talented at tuning out their best friend. But if you wanted to be best friends with Gansey, you sometimes had to make some sacrifices. And so, Adam decidedly wasn’t listening. He and Henry left Gansey to his lecturing and Ronan to his sulking, silently eating their breakfast and each lost in their own particular world. Flicking his wrist slightly, he checked the time on his watch, starting to eat quicker when he realised the time. He didn’t want to be late for potions when he had Blue’s book to return. Okay, so he couldn’t bear being late anyway, but especially so now. He hadn’t forgotten her help with his wrist and he really wanted to say thank you properly, not just with a cringey hand wave across the Ravenclaw common room. He’d been flicking through the book the night before and found some endearing little notes dotted in the margins. Her own book then; battered and old, the spine cracked and some pages with sagged corners where it had been dog-eared for years. It was an incredibly personal thing and he’d treated it very carefully. The notes were simple and factual and for some reason Venezuela was mentioned a lot. He looked at impatiently at his watch again. When did he have to go?

Now. He had to go now. Adam pushed away his plate and stood up, slinging his bag over his shoulder and trying not to wince as it hit his still sensitive ribs. He bid goodbye to his friends and started to walk away down the hall to the huge double doors. The sound of running met his ears and he swivelled around to wait for, he assumed, Alison or Frank, but instead it was Ronan hurrying to catch up. This was a surprise for two reasons: one, even though Ronan had in theory chosen potions as an option for NEWT, the likelihood of him turning up at all was slim; and two, he’d decided a while ago that anything faster than walking on foot destroyed his ‘street cred’ (“don’t fucking call it that, Cheng.”). Speed was solely for broomsticks and the occasional muggle car. Surprise more than anything made him stop to wait and Ronan was met with a confused frown and a raised eyebrow.  
“Gansey has a free now.” Ronan mumbled with a shrug.

Adam nodded. Gansey lecturing Ronan about not going to potions would be worse than actually going to potions. Ronan was reckless with no sense of self-preservation, but he wasn’t a total masochist. They walked to the dungeon in a comfortable quiet, punctuated by scarce conversation and Chainsaw’s occasional squawk at the ghosts. She squawked particularly loudly at Peeves, who scarpered fast when she appeared. He clearly hadn’t forgotten about The Incident of their fourth year. Adam and Ronan snickered, looking at each other out of the corner of their eyes. “If we ever wanted to do an amazing leaving prank, we would totally be able to get Peeves to comply.” Adam said thoughtfully.

“Already on it, Parrish.” Ronan grinned, all teeth. “Gansey lives in a permanent state of anxiety over it.”

Adam snorted. “Gansey already lives in a permanent state of anxiety over everything you do.” When the tiny crease appeared between Ronan’s eyebrows, Adam suddenly realised that he’d probably put his foot in it. He could never tell what was putting his foot in it with Ronan. Frowning wasn’t a common expression for the other boy; everything was either brutal happiness or anger, but every now and again it happened. But it would be worse if he brought attention to it. As such, they spent the rest of the walk to potions in silence.

Adam took it as a blessing that Ronan sat next to him when he took his place at the potions station near the back, instead of sitting on his own in the opposite corner. Which had happened, though it was not talked about unless you wanted to get punched. Even in the world of magic and spells, the Lynch brothers were preferred more physical methods to solve their problems. Adam didn’t need to be hit again this month.

“Ah, Gansey’s pet got his face fixed!” Prokopenko clapped Adam on the back, hard, as he came into the classroom. That was a bigger shock than Ronan coming to potions; at least he had two brain cells to rub together. He couldn’t quite believe that Kavinsky’s right hand man had even scraped the grades to go to NEWT level at all. Adam could feel the colour rising to his cheeks at the shitty nickname. There was still a part of him that agreed with it, but it had been diminished somewhat by the appointment of prefect. He didn’t even look at Prokopenko before replying. “Mine’s fine thanks. Shame no one can help you with yours.” He was rewarded with a cackle from Ronan. This was beyond Prokopenko’s mental capacity, so he turned to Ronan.

“K’s pissed you chickened out of the party. Your girlfriend not let you have the night off?” he said snidely.

The statement hadn’t been funny to begin with, and it was even less funny when it was said by the cronies. Before Ronan could start a fight in the middle of the classroom, there was a loud sigh from behind Prokopenko. “You’re in my way.” Blue Sargent said loudly. She said it so fiercely that the boy did actually move out the way and even though Adam was sitting out of the way, he felt like he should be moving somewhere. After Prokopenko had shuffled off and Blue had taken her seat at the spare station two down from Ronan, Adam pulled the book out of his bag and got up. Ronan glanced up, an eyebrow raised. He waved the book at him as an explanation and walked around his friend to where Blue was sitting. She was tracing the patterns in the wood tabletop idly with her finger, head leaning on her other hand and her short, spiky hair falling across her face and over her jawline. Adam cleared his throat. She turned to look at him blankly, her eyebrow quirked. Adam stumbled over his thoughts for a moment before holding out the book.

“You left your book in the library yesterday.” He said calmly, trying to quiet his raging thoughts. “I thought, as we share this lesson, that it would be the best chance to give it back.”

She eyed him warily before reaching out to take it. “Thanks. You didn’t need to do that.”

Adam shrugged. “Better anyone pick it up than Pince. She’d have a fit if she thought anyone was writing on library books.”

Blue almost smiled, the corner of her full mouth lifting. “Yeah she…” she stopped, the corner falling. “Anyway, thanks.” She turned back to the table and Adam took that as his dismissal, returning to Ronan, who was glowering at something. Probably Prokopenko, who was lobbing spitballs everywhere from the middle row. Seriously, how had he passed anything?

With a crack like a whip and a few sparks, the spit balls vanished and Professor Potts entered the classroom, a stern look on her face. “Mister Prokopenko. If you continue with that sort of behaviour, I’m afraid you will have to leave my class. Clear?” Prokopenko frowned but he put down the straw. Professor Potts was a tiny round woman, who was always unfailingly polite but had an icy stare that could even intimidate Ronan. That was saying something, as Adam often thought that Ronan could probably intimidate inanimate objects into doing what he wanted. He’d probably never need to use a charm spell in his life. Potts quickly got them on to doing practical work in pairs, today the draught of living death, and Adam shoved Ronan awake to try and get him to help. “Can you at least help me collect ingredients?”

Ronan scowled viciously. “I’m not completely incompetent, Parrish.” He said, shoving his stool across the floor and heading over to the front of the room where Potts had laid everything out. In a state of shock, Adam opened the text book and lit the fire underneath their shared cauldron in a bit of a daze. He almost didn’t notice Ronan return. “Can I at least look at the fucking book?”

Adam nodded, but after a moment abruptly stopped. “Wait, don’t you have your own?”

“Course I fucking don’t.” Ronan muttered, glancing at the page and frowning. Adam didn’t know quite what to do with himself. Ronan Lynch, actually doing some work? His expression probably said as much because Ronan’s tone was getting snider and snider as they worked over the potion. The more he thought about it, the whole situation became a bit less weird. This was the first time Adam had ever had a potions lesson with Ronan, to be fair, and his father had been a keen potioneer before he’d died, or so he’d heard. Maybe it wasn’t really so weird for Ronan to take part in a lesson like this. He was quite a practical, hands on person, Adam supposed, and he probably shouldn’t complain that he didn’t have to do all the work for once.

The potion ended up quite well in the end, not perfect, but good enough to have Potts give it an approving glare as she walked past. To the left of them, however, Blue was having a huge amount of trouble. She’d been unfortunate enough to be left without a partner due to the odd number of students in the class and had to try to make it on her own. Feeling sorry for her, he decided he should go over and help. He still owed her one for the wrist thing, anyway. She was putting far too much sage in and the steam rising from the far too hot cauldron was making her hair frizz, losing its’ spikes. She looked flushed and angry and Adam quickly deduced that it wasn’t a bad look on her. He leant over her shoulder and picked the stem out her hand. “You’re putting too much of this in.” he said quietly. “You need to stir it more, but turn down the heat of the fire underneath; you’ve made it too hot so it’ll curdle soon. It won’t be usable after that and you’ll need to start again.” He picked up the spoon and stirred the mixture slowly. It could still end up being okay if she continued like that for the rest of the method. He let go and took a step back. “Thanks for the wrist by the way,” he said, “I kind of you one.”

“You don’t owe me anything.” Blue hissed. He looked up and saw that the girl looked absolutely livid. “I don’t need your help, I’m not a damsel in distress.” She turned furiously back to her potion and Adam retreated, confused and a little hurt. Ronan surprisingly didn’t laugh out loud at him, but Adam could feel the amused pity radiating off the other boy towards him. The only thing to do was to pretend nothing had happened and carry on.

Both potions were a success.

However, Gansey wanted to do the complete opposite of pretend nothing had happened and carry on. He was angry on Adam’s behalf and proclaimed very loudly that Adam had been treated very unfairly by Blue Sargent. He did take a break in the middle though, to make it clear that Adam should have maybe learnt his lesson and next time he was offered help be a bit more grateful, instead of shouting about ‘charity’. They’d disagreed on that since the very first day they’d met and Gansey was constantly trying to drill it into his friends’ head that sometimes it was okay to get help. Sometimes, it was something a friend would do for another friend because they needed help. But at this moment, the focus was on how badly Adam had been treated by his classmate. It was one thing to argue with your friend over what was charity and what required a debt, but something completely different to aggressively berate a stranger for trying to be kind. He was in half a mind to go and talk to Blue for Adam, in order to try and get an apology from her, or at least for her to understand how she’d made him feel. Ronan remained silent throughout the entire conversation and Gansey couldn’t tell whether that was a curse or a blessing. Half the time he would antagonise Adam to the point where he would get hexed and they wouldn’t talk for a week, but sometimes he managed to talk some sense into him in a way that Gansey could never do. Luckily, Henry was on his side.

“Parrish, hun, I think we all know Gansey can’t do anything by halves, but he is kind of right. That wasn’t your fault.” Henry shrugged casually, but didn’t break eye contact with Adam. “Like, okay, she’s a difficult one but that’s out of order. And you’re allowed to think that was out of order.”

Adam glared. “I’m not a child. I can tell when something’s out of order. I just don’t want a scene.”

Henry nodded. “Cool, cool. We’re on the same page then.” Traitor.

Adam certainly didn’t look it, but Gansey knew that he was fragile. He was a boy born into flames, left alone to heal the burns even when the inferno was forever raging. Heal one and another appeared almost instantly; a vicious circle. But Adam had ambition – he was alight with wanting more. Why settle for average when you could have the world? Why have a matchstick when you could have a bonfire, why have sparklers when you could have a firework? If Gansey thought about it, the only way he could describe his little group of best friends was as fireworks waiting to be lit. Something burned in them that other people didn’t see and what scared Gansey the most was the idea that someone could put that fire out. And although Adam’s fire burnt the fiercest, he was also the most likely to be burnt out by the flames.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oooooh it's heating up! I'm not going to lie, this is a bit of a filler chapter to get a few bits put in so I can push the story forward a bit better. I know it's all just bits and bobs happening in a simple environment, but do not worry it's going to get realll exciting in the next few chapters! At least I think so, I hope so. I hope you enjoyed it! And the rest! I really like shouting my notes apparently! Let me know what you think!
> 
> (about the chapter, not my bad habit of using too many exclamation marks)
> 
> Also the Two of Wands symbolises potential partnership... hint hint spoilers wtf stuff's happening.
> 
> I'm excited.


	6. Three of Swords

Gansey had not actually planned to confront Blue Sargent, despite making his opinions on the subject very clear the night before. She simply passed him in the corridor and he found himself filled with indignation on his friends behalf. Her tiny figure was being weighed down by a bag full of books and the scowl that marred her features was present as always. But Blue’s eyes glowed and her head was held high, the light from the chandeliers bouncing off her cheekbones and pointed chin. Gansey called out to her. “Blue Sargent!”

She whipped around, the initial surprise slipping quickly into annoyance. “Yes?”

Gansey jogged up to her when it became clear that she was not going to come up to him. “I hear Adam helped you with your potion yesterday.” He started.

Blue’s expression became stormy. “Yes.” She said shortly. “And you can tell him that he doesn’t owe me anything. He can leave. Me. Alone.”

“He was only trying to be kind,” Gansey said quickly before she could leave the conversation, “I’m sorry you couldn’t appreciate that.”

“Don’t patronise me.” Blue snarled, finally turning fully to face him.

Gansey paused. He hadn’t meant to patronise. “I can assure you that was not my intention, however-”

“You’re doing it again! Just tell your little pet he can leave me alone!” Blue snapped spitefully, flinging her arms up in the air.

Gansey used every ounce of willpower he had to keep calm. “There’s no need to be mean. He was only trying to help.”

“I don’t need help.” She insisted.

Gansey scoffed. “Everyone needs help.”

Steam could be spewing from her ears, Blue looked so angry. “Leave me alone, Gansey.” She said stiffly, her tongue curling around his name, and before Gansey could say anything else, she’d turned away from him and left. Gansey swore under his breath. Adam was going to be furious.

He’d been entirely right. Adam was livid. Absolutely fuming. He was angrier now than he'd been when Gansey tried to buy him his text books in their third year. That fight had lasted weeks and had been awkward for all parties, at least until they’d found a new secret passage under the school and Adam’s curiosity gave out over his anger. But this was a whole new level of it. After chewing Gansey out thoroughly for trying to sort Adam’s problems out for him in the first place, he went on to rip him to shreds for doing it so badly he'd managed to offend the girl in doing so. He didn’t want to hear that Gansey hadn’t meant to offend because he knew that, but sometimes Gansey had to understand that he should just butt the fuck out. This led to Gansey apologising profusely and Adam storming off during prep to actually apologise for his friend, as well as hopefully get his thanks across. Understandably, Blue did not look happy to see him approaching her and looked like she was seriously considering just getting up and leaving. He quickened his pace and got to her table before she could scarper. She eyed him warily from under her thick fringe through narrowed eyes.

“I’d like to apologise for Gansey’s behaviour.” He said quickly. “It was totally out of order and I’m really sorry he did that.” Her scowl had relaxed slightly, so Adam ploughed on with the rest of the short speech he’d prepared. “I’m not here to make excuses for him, but he did honestly think he was helping. He’s not a bad guy, he’s just… he gets it wrong sometimes.”

The scowl was back again. “He should learn not to be a patronising git.”

Adam snorted. “Probably. It’s been discussed.” Surprise flitted across Blue’s features, her eyes widening slightly and her forehead smoothing out. She evidently hadn’t expected that reaction and Adam revelled in it. “I’m sorry for Gansey and I’m sorry for intruding on your potion, I got the wrong idea. I was trying to say thank you for fixing my wrist but it seems I probably should have done that in person. So, yeah. Thank you.”

Blue stared at him for a moment, her face for once completely blank, unreadable. “You fixed your own arm.” She said quietly.

Adam shrugged. “You gave me the spell. I couldn’t have done it without you.”

Blue flushed and Adam took a moment to think about how he’d managed to make Blue Sargent of all people blush. “Well… my mum’s best friend works at St. Mungo’s and I used to get into a few scrapes…” she said quietly, adamantly not looking at him.

Adam gaped. “She’s a healer?”

“A minor one, but yeah.” Blue replied, tracing her finger over a dent in the wooden table.

Adam pulled out the chair next to her and sat down, eyes wide and earnest. “Merlin, that's amazing.”

"Do you want to be a healer then?" Blue asked quickly, as if she'd surprised herself by asking at all.

Adam nodded. "That's the dream."

Blue slowly felt herself open up as they discussed the various pros and cons of working for St. Mungo’s and she elaborated on exactly it was that Calla did. In turn, Adam detailed what it was that he wanted to do and where he wanted to go from Hogwarts. Blue noticed how carefully he avoided the topic of his life at home, but asked very keen questions on what it was like to live in a completely wizarding village in a house full of dedicated psychics. Not many pursued that line of magic, but she discovered that Adam had an affinity for it and was greatly interested in what they did at home. Having said that, Adam goddamn Parrish had an affinity for everything. The first student in a very long time to get a total of twelve Outstanding’s at OWL. She said as much, making him blush scarlet on his high cheekbones. Blue stared. She resisted the urge to touch the blush on his cheeks and turned away. How embarrassing. She couldn't understand where the startling urge had come from, but luckily, the awkward moment was hastily avoided by Noah literally dropping in at their table to say hello. Blue nearly toppled off her chair. “NOAH!” she hissed, earning her a glare from Madam Pince as she poked her head around the side of a bookshelf to glare at them.

“Sorry!” Noah grinned, drifting over the table to take a seat on the other side of the table. “Thought I’d let you know, Peeves is waiting in the east wing corridor with more water balloons than I can count. I thought he’d given water balloons up years ago.”

“Thanks for the heads up, mate.” Adam grinned.

Noah grinned back. “Not a problem. I almost wish Fred Weasley had chosen to come back as a ghost, if only to give Peeves a run for his money. He and his brother were fucking fantastic at pranks.”

Blue cocked her head. They all knew who the Weasley’s were, but she hadn’t realised Noah had gone to school with them. “Did you know them?”

The boy nodded. “They were in their last year when I was in my third. Under the rule of the fascist Umbridge.” He said her name with such venom and dramatic hand flailing that she couldn’t help but laugh. She felt eyes on her and turned to look at Adam, who just smiled. She felt herself grinning in return.

“I always forget that you were there for all of that stuff.” Adam said.

Noah gave him a look. “I’m sixteen and dead, Parrish. I’m also haunting my school. I wish it were so easy for me to forget I was there.” He put a hand to his forehead in a mock faint. Blue threw her book at him which sailed through his chest and thumped to the floor, earning them another glare from the librarian.

Blue leant in eagerly. “What were the pranks like?” she asked wistfully.

Noah went on to describe in detail what the school was like under Umbridge and what she had done to make the Weasley twins angry enough to just duck out of their education. He had them in stitches over the pranks they had pulled and Adam and Blue could hardly believe that Peeves had taken orders from a student. Neither of them were surprised in the slightest that McGonagall had survived five stunning spells to the chest. Before they knew it, the clock struck ten and they all said their goodbyes. “See you in potions, Blue!” Adam called as he shrugged his bag over his shoulder and headed out of the library. Blue bit her lip and crossed her arms as Noah gave her a smug look. Maybe not all of those Raven Boys were that bad. She flipped Noah off and headed back up to the Ravenclaw Tower.

***

Adam was in a suspiciously good mood. He smiled widely at them all when he arrived for breakfast, despite the fallout with Gansey the night before, but nobody wanted to mention it. If Adam wasn’t going to be angry, the rest of them sure as hell weren’t going to complain. On top of the boy’s strangely buoyant mood, Ronan also noticed that Noah was giving Adam strangely unreadable looks. This was bizarre for two reasons; first, Noah didn’t often join them for breakfast because he was desperately avoiding Peeves’ morning rounds and second, these looks were weird. They didn’t have secrets from each other. Ronan scowled at them both and went back to the eggs sitting in front of him. Gansey was so relieved they weren’t fighting that he’d not noticed anything further and was now chatting merrily with Henry about the so-called 'progress' he’d made on their hunt for Merlin. Ronan knew better. All they’d found was history books claiming that they knew what was going to happen and where he was buried. Nothing concrete, nothing that excited Ronan personally. He needed something physical to do; he needed action. He could feel himself tensing up every day he was stuck at school.

“I talked to Blue yesterday.” Adam said suddenly, looking particularly at Gansey. Gansey hummed noncommittedly, so Adam repeated himself.

On the second time, he responded fully. “Oh? And?”

Adam smiled somewhat wistfully. Ronan stared. He’d never seen a smile quite like that on Adam Parrish’s face. “We’re cool. I apologised for you,” Adam raised an eyebrow at Gansey, who had the good grace to look abashed, “and we talked about her family. Her mother’s best friend is a healer at St. Mungo’s.”

Ronan scoffed. The Sargent-Johnson-Poldma household was infamous amongst the older wizarding families for anything but healing. Adam’s head flicked round and stared at him. “What?”

Ronan shook his head, half a smirk at his mouth. “Nothing.”

Adam pressed. “No, seriously, what?”

Sighing dramatically, Ronan lifted his head and was met by Adam’s very challenging gaze. For some reason it pissed him off. “That household is known for anything but healing.” He said carelessly, looking away towards Chainsaw.

He saw Adam scowl in his peripheral vision. Gansey and Henry were already looking at their book again; arguments were commonplace between Ronan and Adam, as they would be until one of them stopped breathing. “What do you mean? I know they’re all really good at divination, if that’s what you’re talking about?”

Ronan sighed and cocked his head, putting on a patronising expression as he prepared to treat Adam like a five-year-old. “Because divination is total bullshit.”

Adam’s hands clenched. “You don’t know that.”

Noah dissolved out of sight. Coward. With a loud laugh that sent Chainsaw soaring off his shoulder towards the enchanted ceiling, Ronan rolled his eyes. “Yeah, they call themselves ‘psychics’,” he scoffed, one hand making mocking quote marks in the air, “which is the shitty muggle name for it. They sell stupidly bad tricks that children could do, to stupid people for stupid prices.” Namely his parents, not that it was relevant now.

Adam was very still. "It's a difficult class of magic. Just because you don't understand it-"

"I understand it," Ronan scoffed, "enough to know it's pointless."

"Why are you shitting on it now?" Adam's fingers twitched. "Why do you suddenly care about how much you hate divination?"

Ronan raised an eyebrow. "Because they honestly think we're stupid enough to believe stupid muggle tricks. If muggles do it, why should we want to have anything to do with it?" He couldn't pinpoint why he'd chosen to start a fight, but he knew he could feel the anger building up inside him with every defense of divination that Adam threw up.

“So the problem is the muggle thing?” Adam retorted, both of his hands entirely white and his lips in a thin line.

Ronan didn’t stop smiling condescendingly, still not looking at Adam but mindlessly picking at his stubby nails. He could feel his tattoo retracting and tensing. “Oh come on, Parrish. That muggleborn professor doesn't have a clue about anything magical. I've seen better 'psychics' at the stupid fair the muggles in the village over hold every year."

"What's wrong with muggleborns?" Adam asked, his voice low and dangerous. There was no inflection and his clenched knuckles were white.

Ronan rolled his eyes. "Nothing. But the only reason... 'you lot'... find it easy is because it's a made up subject so they can pretend they have magic. God it's so fucking simple, the dumbest of muggles can do it." 

There was a screech as Adam pushed the bench back slightly so he could stand up. “If ‘stupid muggles’ can get their heads around it, why couldn’t _you_ pass the fucking subject?” Adam hissed, leaning over the table and using his hands to brace himself. With a final glare, he shoved himself back and stalked out of the Great Hall. Ronan leant back, a feeling of unease shaking through him. He and Adam argued all the time, but neither of them knew quite where the other’s line was. This was why he preferred Gansey, at least with Gansey he knew where he stood. Maybe the jabs at muggles was a bit far but at least he’d succeeded in pissing Adam off. Not that he could really remember why he’d been so eager to in the first place. Ronan ignored the twist of Gansey’s mouth that signified he was going to get a lecture and left the table, clapping his friend on the back. “See you at lunch, G!” he said jovially, just to prove how little he cared.

Adam still wasn’t talking to him by the next mealtime. He stalked in with his head high, walking straight past their table without so much as a wave and sat down heavily at the Slytherin table. He refused to look at them and was evidently not answering any concerned questions his friends were asking him. Ronan shot quick glances at the boy’s back sporadically throughout the meal and saw him get progressively happier as it went on. Ronan scowled. If he was in such a good fucking mood why couldn't he get a grip and let it go? Gansey, under the impression that Ronan cared, informed him that Adam had sat with him and Henry in transfiguration but had refused to talk about it any further than ‘I don’t care if he’s a bigot who has a problem with muggles, but he’s not going to be a bigot in front of me’. He had been interested to talk about Merlin though, despite his fury at Ronan. So maybe the muggle thing was a step too far but what did Adam owe muggles? He was supposed to be leaving that world.

It didn’t stop for the rest of the day. Adam didn’t join them after supper or for prep, instead opting to sit with Maggot Sargent in the corner of the library opposite their usual seat. He was just trying to prove a point now. Noah drifted through the bookcase to where they were sitting at hovered near Ronan’s head. “You should do some work.” He said.

“You should fuck off to the afterlife.” Ronan replied amicably.

“Adam’s not happy.” Noah said carefully.

“Okay.” He scratched the end of his nose with his quill.

Noah paused. “They’re good psychics.”

“Okay.” Ronan said again.

Now Gansey got involved. Noah’s right. You weren’t fair.”

“Okay.” Ronan said, looking adamantly down at the wooden tabletop. Cheng rightfully kept to his lane and didn’t say anything.

“Can’t you just apologise?” Noah asked.

Now they all stared at the ghost. “That’s not going to happen.” Cheng said lightly, avoiding Ronan’s glare. What happened to staying in his lane?

Gansey sighed. “Just because your mother still-”

Ronan got up. “Don’t lecture me.” He snarled and stalked out of the library, almost flipping the middle finger at madam Pince. He needed to get out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of contact for you peeps of the two main ships - I know I'm basic but I do actually ship the canon couples and on top of that it's sometimes easier to avoid ship-wars when you use the canon ones? Sorry to anyone who doesn't :/ I just thought they were all written so perfectly it was hard not to want those two couples together.
> 
> Ronan and Adam needed to have a fight at some point, right? Need a bit of angst in there - the next chapter is almost 100% Ronan-centric so if you like him as much as I do you have a big storm comin'!
> 
> As usual, hope you enjoy!! Let me know if ya did (or didn't - I'm down for constructive criticism) and the next chapter should be up sooooooon!
> 
> (P.S - The Three of Swords card symbolises purposeful conflict; things said on purpose to create tension or to hurt. Thought it was pretty suitable.)
> 
> (P.P.S - I'm sorry these chapters turn out so short when I transfer them to AO3 they're like six or seven A4 pages on word!)


	7. Eight of Cups

To say Ronan had missed the dense atmosphere of Kavinsky’s parties would be an understatement. It was something he hadn’t realised that he’d missed, something that he could never quite put his finger on as a part of him. The drinking was always a very welcome addition, but he didn’t necessarily need it. The atmosphere got him feeling hazy before the first drop of firewhiskey had even touched his lips. The uneven ground made it feel like the world was spinning and the dense wood of the Forbidden Forest that stretched up above them in the dark making him feel dizzy and small amongst them. The throngs of people dancing to the enchanted gramophone playing only thick, muggle house music; smoke rising from the crowd as they all puffed on both cigarettes and the stronger stuff; the shrieks and caws coming from the people in the large clearing racing their brooms around the edge where the grass met the woodland. Kavinsky standing on a large clump of rocks to the side, reigning over it all like the corrupted king he was. It was a world that happened behind locked doors and in the dead of night, a world that didn’t exist as soon as you woke up, a world that could easily convince you was a dream if you didn’t have the musky taste in the back of your throat and the bruises on your skin the next day to prove it.

It was a gift and a curse and when Ronan was there he couldn’t remember why he didn’t want to come in the first place. It was the next morning when he only had snatches of memory and a sick feeling in his stomach that he decided they weren’t really for him. But what called him back was the totally stress-free environment where people indulged themselves to the point of overdoing it and responsibilities were a concept that hadn’t reached their civilisation just yet. People from all over the school turned up; ones that Ronan recognised, some he didn’t, and some he was convinced didn’t even go to the school but turned up for the free booze and entertainment. Muggles turned up sometimes too, though Ronan had no idea how they got into the school grounds. He honestly didn’t want to know. Kavinsky got away with it because the drugs and alcohol made even the most astounding of magic seem like a fever dream. It was the only place that magic ever felt truly magical. When people use it around you every day, you can only become used to it. But stepping into Kavinsky’s downtrodden world, where everything felt like a challenge, magic reigned free. The reasons he kept coming back flooded his brain until the unknown and strange feeling that had been eating away at him for so long was a distant memory. Nothing existed here.

He had no idea what was stressing him out so much, but he knew that his shoulders had been up by his chin since what he could only assume had been the beginning of term. There were thoughts clouding his brain that he couldn’t quite hold onto, disappearing into his subconscious before he could grab onto them, things he was sure he didn’t want to know but kept coming back to tease him. He grabbed the nearest bottle of firewhiskey from a pile beside the gramophone and took a huge swig from it, letting the liquid burn his throat. It scorched him from the edge of his lips to the base of his stomach, rocketing through him like he’d been set alight by flames that didn’t burn him through, but lit him from the inside out. He felt the magic that had surged through his genes since birth like it was tangible and let the drunken haze overcome his brain as he wandered towards the main event. Broom racing was an uncommon sport even in the world of legal magic, but with no rules, no safety nets and no sobriety, it was addictive. Just the memory of getting on a broom set the adrenaline going through his bloodstream, only enhanced by the alcohol also pulsing through his body. In front of him stood the immense clearing, lit only by the balls of light shot up into the sky like floodlights on a muggle pitch.

It looked like they’d already been going for quite a while, a pile of battered and broken brooms next to outcrop of rock, while next to it stood a long line of sparkling new ones, ready to be raced. With only a third of the liquid left in the bottle, Ronan chugged the last of it down and threw the bottle to the ground before heading over to where Kavinsky sat. When the other boy saw him approaching, he let out a whoop. Ronan noticed that he’d ditched his uniform and instead donned a pair of very expensive looking muggle jeans and a white tank-top, though most of the crowd were still in regular wizards clothing. Even though Kavinsky could afford to stand out, not everyone who frequented his parties could. He had a handsome face, in the way that could only spell trouble. The sort of person girls wanted to be caught with if they wanted their parents to take notice, the sort of savage good looks that only came from being the downworld’s king. Wealthy enough to be careless and arrogant enough to be indulgent. The acidic smile was visible even from Ronan’s place on the ground. “Lynch, you made it!” he whooped again. “Get up here, you bastard.” Ronan started to climb the large rocks towards the flat at the top where Kavinsky was sitting with his ‘court’. 

The ‘court’ only really consisted of Kavinsky’s favourites, of which there weren’t many. Jiang and Skov, also Slytherin, lounged on the rock face, eyes shut and their faces smooth and blank. A rolled up scrap of parchment sat in Skov’s right hand. Prokopenko, the most loyal, was sat next to their leader, watching over the events down below, thin hand clutching a large bottle. He’d been picked up from Hufflepuff. Swan was kicking his legs over the side of the rock tower, a cigarette dangling from his mouth, his dark eyes flashing sharply. Gryffindor. He gave Ronan a loose smirk, showing off his perfect teeth, before turning back to the races. Gryffindors were often all over these parties, honour and valour easily being forgotten in place of showing off and being loud, drunken messes, but only one had made the inner circle. The rock was well lit due to the excess of orbs circling the clearing and they cast sharp, stark shadows over the group. Kavinsky’s sharp features were made sharper, stark shadows cast across his thin face and heavy set jaw. His white teeth flashed as he grinned wildly at Ronan. “So you were finally let out,” he said, “thought you’d found more entertaining pursuits up in the dorms.” He raised an eyebrow suggestively. Ronan ignored him, instead reaching out to snatch the bottle that had been offered by Prokopenko. “Lighten up, Lynch!” Kavinsky tried again, shoving Ronan with his shoulder. “Thought you’d be up for challenging the undefeated champion down there.”  


Ronan slowly lifted his head. “Who?”  


“Weasley junior’s thrashing them all down there.” Kavinsky shouted over a loud cheer from below. “Not such a golden kid, eh?”  


Ronan wasn’t surprised. The kid was on the Gryffindor quidditch team and she was a fucking demon of a beater. It wasn’t surprising that she was here racing. “No…” Ronan mused.  


“You gonna go?” Prokopenko asked, tugging his eyes away from the action, his pupils blown wide. Ronan shook his head and took another swig of whatever was in the bottle he was holding. Prokopenko shrugged and started shouting random spells into the air, pointing his wand at the crowds below. Cackling, Swan and Kavinsky joined him, sending curses and hexes at the party-goers down below. “Can’t make the racing easy, for them.” Kavinsky insisted with a dangerous grin, shooting a jet of flames down at the crowd. Peering over the edge of the rock, Ronan could see havoc being wreaked down below by the various hexes that were being sent down. He huffed out a light laugh to stop them all staring at him and chucked his bottle over the edge, a satisfying smash echoing up towards him. “Doesn’t make it a fair race.” Ronan muttered, shoving his hands in his pockets. It was colder up on the rocks.  


Kavinsky stared at him. “Who fucking cares about ‘fair’?” he cackled. “Life’s not fair, mate. Life picks favourites and tonight, we play at life!” he shouted the last few words, accompanied with jets of light at cheers from the others with them, Jiang and Skov finally roused from their dreams.  


Pupils blown wide, Skov clapped Ronan on the shoulder. “Lynch!” He exclaimed, “Didn’t think you were going to make it!”  


Jiang slapped his other side. “Yeah, didn’t think princess was going to let you leave.”  


“Surely he can wank himself off just for once.” Skov snorted, reaching over to high-five Jiang, who’d burst out laughing.  


“Doesn’t need your help all the time!” Jiang shouted in reply. They doubled over laughing and Ronan rolled his eyes, moving away from the pair.  


Kavinsky turned back to him. “You sure you’re not racing?” he asked, head cocked. “Got some absolute gems down there.”  


Again, Ronan nodded, but less sure this time. “Could do.” He shrugged. “Haven’t seen anything worth going on, to be honest.” He looked coolly up at Kavinsky, who’d eyes had narrowed.  


“You better,” he said quietly, “you don’t know when number three is going to let you out again. Don’t you get bored of being one of his many pets?” Kavinsky was almost growling at this point.  


Ronan stared back. With another shrug, he snatched a full bottle from the ground beside him and hopped down off the rocks, drifting into the crowd.

As the night went on, he found himself heading towards the denser area of the forest, where the music throbbed and the people barely even recognised themselves, let alone anyone else. Leaning against the nearest soaring pine tree, Ronan let himself fall away and not for the first time wished that Chainsaw wasn’t so sulky when it came to these parties. She was safely up in the owlry, the only raven gracing the nests, but for once not on Ronan’s shoulder. She wouldn’t even stay in the dorm if he wasn’t there; as soon as he got up to sneak out, she would soar out the window without another sound. Stupid bird. Ronan finished the end of the umpteenth bottle in his hand and wandered towards the edge of the pit of people near the gramophone. He started to ease his way through the crowd to the centre, barely aware of what he was doing and who he was looking at and it was all fumbling hands and sweaty bodies and booze and smoke and he was having a lot of trouble making sense of anything that was going on. He wasn’t retaining a single thing and the sensation was a much needed release.

With at least three bottles of firewhiskey in his system, Ronan finally took up the challenge of beating the broom-racing champion of the night. He sauntered over to where the racing was taking place and throwing the bottle in his hand onto the ground, he swivelled round to where the usable broomsticks were kept. Kavinsky looked down from his perch at the top of the rock cluster. “You racing, Lynch?” he shouted down over the din. Ronan nodded and held his hand out for a broom, which flew into his hand after a quick wave of Swan’s wand. A Nimbus 2001; an older model, but it was fast and in relatively good shape. Ronan tossed it back and forth between his hands and looked again at the rest of the brooms. All older models in varying states, some more usable than others, but all pushed to breaking point. “Oi!” Kavinsky shouted out, hopping down from the rocks and landing lightly in front of Ronan. He waved his wand and smirked, a beautifully sleek broom drifting down in front of them. Kavinsky smirked at the other boy, eyes heavily lidded from booze and whatever else he was taking, and handed over the broomstick. A shimmering new LightningDart broomstick in perfect condition, evidently Kavinsky’s own. “Take this one.” He said, hand outstretched.  


“The fuck you get this?” Ronan reached out to take it, eyes wide. “It’s not even out yet.”  


Kavinsky snorted. “Some of us know how to spend our money, Lynch. Are you going to fucking race it or what? I want to see if it’s as good as they say.”  


Ronan scowled. “You race it then, shithead.”  


“I would, but I need a test dummy and you seem to be really gagging for it, Lynch.” Kavinsky shrugged and took a step back. He was right; Ronan was desperate to get out and race, and with a broom as perfectly crafted as that it was practically irresistible. Through his hazy brain, he couldn’t decide if this was the best or worst idea he’d ever had, to race the fastest broom in existence in the forbidden forest, but he couldn’t make himself care. He reached out and took the broomstick, before heading towards the racers without another word. He ignored the smug smile on Kavinsky’s face.

It was better than he could have ever believed. Ronan darted past players and obstacles alike, the wind whipping over his head and around his robes, swerving round trees and over rocks, easily winning the race by miles. The previous champion relinquished the title willingly, though for the life of him Ronan couldn’t have remembered who it was. Had to be a Gryffindor, if they were being honourable. The next racers were mostly Ravenclaws with a few Slytherin’s and Ronan raced harder. The amazing broom made it easier and he went again and again and again, the adrenaline racing through his blood and his brain in a comfortable haze. He couldn’t remember how many races he’d won before his competitors had started to become agitated and the winning streak was beginning to go from ‘enjoyable competition’ to ‘annoyingly frequent’, but soon enough he felt a burning sensation ripple up the end of the broom as the angry girl behind him sent flames firing towards him. Distracted for a moment, Ronan missed the corner of the arena and went flying through the trees, skidding across the floor and down a steep nearby slope towards the thick stream below him. Chucking the broom away from him, Ronan lightly lifted his bashed up head a few centimetres off the ground. The combination of being drunk, the dark and the likely concussion he probably had, made it incredibly difficult to see anything and instead of trying to find his way back to the crowd, Ronan gave up and fell asleep, hoping that none of the more frightening creatures in the forest would find him.

***

He awoke some hours later, his head throbbing loudly in his ears and his eyes stinging angrily as the light started to filter into them. Groaning, Ronan wrenched his eyes open despite their protest and continued to lie on the woodland floor, trying to make sense of what was above him. As far as he could tell in that moment, he thought it was the sun, but after a few more moments of consideration, he concluded that the sun did not usually shine blue, nor did it usually burn quite so close to his face. He attempted to bat it away but the light seemed to simply leap away from his hands. Ronan pulled himself up into a sitting position and ignoring the pulsing in his temples and the churning of his stomach, he inspected the light. It was a small blue-ish orb, vaguely reminiscent of the willow-the-wisps his dad used to tell him about when he was young enough to appreciate fairy tales as they scoured the Irish countryside together. He wasn’t sober enough yet to appreciate that it likely wasn’t anything special, but he was aware enough to remember that you’re supposed to follow willow-the-wisps if they appeared to you. For the first time in a very long time, Ronan listened to his father’s tales.

He stood up slowly, eyes not leaving the orb in front of him for fear it might disappear. It almost seemed to nod at him before it gently floated away through the trees, leading him on. Ronan followed, lead through the forest that was only just light enough to be able to see through as the sun started to emerge from the horizon. He couldn’t tell how far it was taking him, or how deep he was in the forbidden forest, but he couldn’t find it in himself to care that much. The light was almost hypnotic as it drifted between the thick tree trunks and over stumps, branches and hillocks, shimmering dully through the morning mist.

Ronan couldn’t tell how far he had walked through the trees but the morning mist had just started to settle like a dense grey blanket a few inches from the forest floor and the pale September light was beginning to filter down, casting the woodland in soft, amber light. He made it as far as a small hollow before the wisp disappeared and still had no clue of where he was. As he started to sober up, Ronan began to curse himself for following that stupid, floating lightbulb so far into the forest. How the fuck was he supposed to get back now? If Hagrid’s fucking acromantula found him he was dead meat. Actually, if anything found him he was dead meat. Apart from maybe a deer… or a squirrel. Even then, he wasn’t sure. As he mentally berated himself, Ronan turned on his heal and was about to start walking randomly through the forest again when something caught his eye. There was a large oak tree opposite him that featured a huge, curling pattern carved into its’ trunk; three spirals curled out from the centre point and somehow they were coloured in black, as if they were scorched. 

His eyes flickered up as a low tweeting cut through the silence. A small blue and grey bird was singing on one of the lower branches. Ronan couldn’t help but think this was all a bit weird, seeing as oaks didn’t often grow in the centre of dense forests. He walked towards the oak and reached his hand out to trace the pattern in front of him. Ronan had been right, the pattern was indeed burnt into the wood, but it didn’t look distressed. On the contrary, the bark around it was surprisingly spongy and healthy-looking considering something had clearly taken a torch to it. He couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d seen this symbol before but couldn’t for the life of him remember where from. After a few moments of pondering, Ronan gave up and turned around to walk through the trees in the direction he assumed was the way back to the school grounds. Within a few yards, he was on the mud track that led out of the forbidden forest and up towards the castle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SORRY SORRY SORRY SORRY SORRY
> 
> I know this is rrreeeeaaaaallllllyyyy fucking late but I just didn't write any of it for like literally a year. I have no good excuse but I just didn't do it. I did the first half of this one aaaaages ago but never completed it. But here it is!! Hopefully I'll keep up with this as much as I can (even if it is a bit slow) - got a lovely couple of comments recently that have inspired me to keep going so I hope you like it!
> 
> P.S - the eight of cups is the card that symbolises recklessness and restlessness; Ronan's a little restless at the moment but I wonder what's on his mind....? ;)


	8. Page of Wands

“Wake up. Ronan. Wake up. Ronan. Wake up!” Ronan was attempting to ignore the voice calling on him to wake up and so far failing. He had a feeling it was Gansey and he didn’t really have the energy to deal with it. He’d expected the reaction but that didn’t mean he welcomed it. The voice got louder, but Ronan just turned over to face away from it, hoping it would go away. His head was throbbing erratically and he felt the nausea curling at the bottom of his stomach, which led him to berate himself internally for doing this all over again. Hangovers, his father used to tell him, were like childbirth and stubbing your toe; you could never remember how painful they really were until you experienced it again. Ronan put his sheets over his head and stuck his fist in the air, middle finger raised and directed towards to wherever Gansey’s voice was coming from. 

“Ronan, I swear to god-” the sheets were ripped off him. Furious, Ronan sat up in bed, glaring at Gansey. His glare started to falter as he saw the expression on Gansey’s face. This was above and beyond whatever anger he’d faced from his best friend before. “Would you like to tell me what the ever-loving fuck you were doing last night? And maybe shed some light on the why you weren’t back when I woke up? I don’t care about what sort of things were happening at whatever party Kavinsky threw, but I do care about your safety, even if you don’t. The Forbidden Forest is not a safe place! Anything could have happened!” Gansey carried on, his usually cool and regal face red with stress and anger. After a while, Ronan started to tune him out, trying to avoid looking appropriately abashed or like he was ignoring him. He started to try and piece together the night before when something Gansey said caught his attention. “Even Kavinsky had no idea where you were! Came and asked me about it this morning! You could have been lying dead in a ditch somewhere. I was going to send out a search party.”

So evidently Kavinsky had noticed he was not there. The thought of that did unpleasant things to Ronan’s head, too in pain to really use it to think anything through. He focused back on Gansey. “… so don’t think you’re getting out of the rest of the day! Luckily you can still make defence against the dark arts. Up. Now.” Ronan let himself be ordered about, mindlessly putting on his robes and yawning as he made his way down to the dungeons. He didn’t want another bout of detention from Professor Quineus; he could be unsuspectingly petty in his punishments. The thought of the last one caused his stomach to churn aggressively as he tried not to throw up all over the hallways. The lecture from Gansey continued until they had to split ways at the main staircase, Gansey going up for charms and Ronan going down for defence against the dark arts. 

Ronan’s mood dipped when he threw open the classroom door and saw Henry Cheng sat next to the only available seat near the back. Cheng just had so much unquenchable energy and it drove Ronan up the wall even when he didn’t have a raging hangover. The smile he got when Cheng noticed him made his mood dip further. It was going to be a long hour. “Lynch!” Cheng greeted him cheerfully, shoving his stuff over so Ronan had room to sit down. Ronan grunted in response. It was barely noticed because as he did so, Blue Sargent walked into the room. Her slim shoulders were sloped towards her heavy bad as it tugged on her shoulders and her spiky hair was pulled back as usual into its’ usual messy ponytail. Henry went to greet her with the same cheerfulness as he’d greeted Ronan but before he’d barely opened his mouth, she’d strode past him and dumped herself into a seat in the row in front. “Hey! Hey Sargent!” Henry whispered loudly, leaning over the desk as he tried to get her attention. “Sargent!” he whispered again. Ronan could see her shoulders stiffen and frowned down at the tabletop. This non-exchange went on for a good few minutes before Blue turned around and shot Cheng a poisonous glare. Not as poisonous as the one she directed at Ronan afterwards, however. Not that he cared. “Damn,” Henry muttered, “Thought Parrish had made progress.”

Ronan didn’t answer.

Upon leaving defence against the dark arts, Ronan was hit with some relief of leaving Henry Cheng’s company. It wasn’t that he had any hard feelings towards the guy, he was just a bit loud. It was almost worse than having Gansey’s lectures at him. He also thought about how he usually walked this route with Parrish if they managed to catch each other on the way and scowled when he thought about their argument. It deepened the closer he got to the dungeons and reached optimal scowl when he opened the door and saw Parrish sitting at their regular table. It was an unwritten rule that you were partnered for the rest of the term with the person you worked with on the first day and so they were stuck with each other for the duration of however long their argument would be. Ronan also noticed that the maggot had followed him to his next subject, sitting on the bench over, aggressively not looking at either of them, no matter how many times Adam tried to make eye contact. His mood got worse. This caused him to slam his bag on the worktop with unnecessary force, making Adam jump violently. They glared at each other for a moment before Adam rolled his eyes and looked away.

Honestly, Ronan could be such a piece of work. Adam was still pissed off at the boy sitting next to him and this was only magnified by the fact that Blue was now ignoring him as well. He had been so sure he’d been making progress with her since the conversation at prep last night but now she was acting as if it had never happened. Adam wasn’t quite sure what he’d done wrong.

"But you never want to know what you did wrong, do you?" Said a nasty voice in the back of his mind.

Shut up. Adam told it.

He chewed his lip worriedly as he sent covert glances at the girl. He couldn’t stop staring at the tanned skin of the back of her shoulder blades or the short tendrils of dark hair that curled at the nape of her neck. Her silence was gnawing away at him and he didn’t know what to do about it. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Ronan notice what he was staring at, scoff silently and then jab his quill into the wooden worktop. Adam rolled his eyes and tried to pay attention to what Professor Potts was writing on the blackboard but kept being distracted by Ronan continuously stabbing the wood in front of him. “Will you stop that?” He hissed quietly, barely turning to face the boy next to him. Ronan scowled but didn’t reply. He carried on scratching away sporadically for most of the period. Adam could feel himself rising and he couldn’t entirely tell if it was because he was already angry at Ronan or whether it was because he really was being just that annoying. Blue had already looked back angrily at them a couple of times in the duration of the lesson. Adam finally turned to look at him. “Fucking stop!” he snapped before looking down at what Ronan was doing. It wasn’t mindless scratches but a shape taking form on the table in front of them. It was a symbol that Adam recognised but he couldn’t for the life of him remember where from. Three spirals curled out from a centre point, all perfectly even. 

“What’s that?” he asked quietly, his anger forgotten in place of curiosity. 

Ronan shrugged. “Don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know?” Don’t get pissy Adam, don’t get angry…

“What I mean is, I don’t know.” The tattoo flicked out of the cuff of Ronan’s robes. He was agitated. Ronan didn’t lie but Adam knew he often omitted the truth instead if he didn’t want to tell him something.

Adam sighed. “How can you not know? You’re drawing it so you must have seen it somewhere.”

Ronan shrugged non-comittedly but again, his tattoo betrayed him as a tendril whipped back and forth on the nape of his neck. “Can’t really remember to be honest.”

A lot of things slipped into place. “Did you see it at Kavinsky’s party?” the words ‘Kavinsky’s party’ dripped with disdain and Adam knew Ronan heard it but for once Ronan chose not to comment.

“I don’t know what you want me to say, Parrish. I got lost in the woods, passed out, woke up and then followed sparkly blue lights to whatever this is carved into a tree. So there. Doesn’t mean I know what it is.” Ronan turned full intensity on Adam as he spoke, finally refraining from scratching at the table. “Who knows, at that point I could have been hallucinating vividly.”

Adam scratched his chin thoughtfully with the end of his own quill. There was something about it that nagged at him but he couldn’t put his finger on it. “That is a point,” he mused, “you could have been dreaming.” Ronan rolled his eyes as if Adam was being dumb but he knew Ronan did not believe he was dreaming. He could have been, but he hadn’t. “You don’t think you were dreaming.” He said. It wasn’t a question.

The other boy bent his dark head over the desk and averted his eyes from Adam. “Didn’t feel like dreaming.” He muttered.

Adam was perplexed. “But… glowing blue spirit lights leading you to a mystical symbol carved into an oak tree? Sounds like dreaming to me.”

“Maybe in the muggle world. Stuff like that happens to us.” There was no snide emphasis on the ‘us’. Adam was included in that ‘us’ but didn’t forget the remarks from yesterday. He didn’t budge.

“I still don’t think that there’s no way you couldn’t have dreamt it.” Adam shrugged.

“Fine. Fine. If you don’t find it in one of those books of yours, then maybe it wasn’t real. But I’ve never seen it before.” Ronan’s glare was a challenge.

Adam could never resist a challenge.

He missed the last ten minutes he was thinking so deeply and felt almost relieved when Potts told them to put their things away. He noticed Blue Sargent eye up the drawing while she was getting up from the bench in front of them. She looked up at Adam, her expression simultaneously exasperated and conflicted. He looked back hopefully.

“It’s a druid symbol.” She told him angrily and just like on the train, she scarpered.

Adam looked after her. “Why does she always run away after dropping random bits of information on me?” He wondered aloud.

***

Gansey had erupted in excitement when they relayed the conversation from before. On top of Ronan’s description of the mystical lights and the tree in which he found the symbol engraved, Adam had spent his free period researching the symbol, which he’d now learnt was a triskelion. As soon as Blue had told him it was a druid symbol, he’d known exactly where to look and he had mixed feelings about the origin. In multiple history book it named the triskelion as the ‘symbol of Merlin’s court’ and as something that conveyed great power. With this information on top of the mystical orbs, Gansey was so excited he was buzzing. As such, because Ronan had offered information that could help in his search for Merlin, all had been forgiven and Gansey had let Ronan temporarily off the hook. It was always temporary in Ronan’s case as he was always doing something to make anger or worry Gansey.

Despite his own glee, Gansey could tell Adam was still sceptical about the whole thing. It wasn’t surprising as Adam had been sceptical of almost everything the day he arrived; about his magic, about the magical world, about his right to be there, and so on and so on. In some ways it was good for Gansey as it brought him down a level on which he could see clearly but in other ways it was terrible for Adam. There was no optimism, no hope of something amazing. He did his best to convince him. “So both could be related to Merlin or druidic power? That’s a start!” he smiled widely at his friend.

Said friend just frowned slightly, a small crease appearing between his eyebrows. “I guess so…” he said slowly. “But I think we should take it with a pinch of salt. Not jump to conclusions.” Gansey wondered what it would be like to always have to be so cautious. He resented his parents for producing a child with no concept of a world where things weren’t possible. He resented himself for his innate lack of understanding about the real world.

“In that case,” Henry said after a pause, “Let’s go find it!”

The group stared at him. “What, now?” Adam replied in disbelief.

Gansey jumped up before he could stop himself. “Yes! Now! Why not? No time like the present.”

Somehow, Gansey managed to convince the rest of his friends to accompany him and Henry relatively easily. To be fair, Ronan could always be counted on to bend the rules and, even if he was a prefect, Adam didn’t like to miss out on adventures. 

They were a motley crew, but they fit, Gansey thought proudly.

It only took them a half hour to dash back to their various houses and collect everything they thought they needed. Back in their dorm, Gansey was thankful their other dorm-mates weren’t in the room with them. It was hard to refrain from sharing his excitement in detail when someone asked, even if he was in a rush. He retrieved his trunk from under the bed and pulled out a few jumpers, a hat, the notebook chronicling their adventures so far and a ball point pen hooked onto the corner of the cover – a Christmas present from Adam. Grabbing his wand from the bed and slipping it into the pocket of his robes, he turned to Ronan who had predictably changed out of his uniform into his muggle clothes: black tank top and jeans, a leather jacket slung over the top. Gansey had always suspected Ronan did it to annoy his family but he could never imagine the ever-loving Aurora upset with her son over a choice of clothes. Chainsaw had apparently decided Ronan was to be forgiven once again for abandoning her in place of Kavinsky and had flown in the window to perch on the boys’ leather-clad shoulder. Noting Gansey was ready, Ronan strode towards the door and flung it open. Gansey rolled his eyes as he picked his friends wand up from the bedside table and gently lobbed it at the back of Ronan’s buzzed head.

“Arsehole.” Ronan grumbled, picking it up off the floor. Gansey grinned and bustled past the other boy down the stairs to the common room. Ronan caught up bashed into him, almost sending Gansey flying when he missed a step, and the two boys jostled their way down the stairs and landed in a heap at the bottom, breathless and laughing while Chainsaw squawked indignantly at them. In these moments, Gansey was able to remind himself the old Ronan could still exist. In these moments, Ronan was able to remind himself that his old self ever did. After a minute of catching their breath, Ronan heaved himself up and offered a hand to Gansey. The rest of their house had barely looked up, accustomed as they were to the boys’ antics. “Let’s go find the others.” Gansey sighed, heading towards the portrait hole and crawling through to the other side. They’d agreed to meet by the greenhouses and when they got there, Adam and Henry were already waiting. “Come on slowpokes!” Henry exclaimed jovially. “The nights awaiting!”

Adam was still looking uneasy. “We’re not really supposed to be out here after dark. And we’re definitely not supposed to be in the forbidden forest at all.”

“Oh, come on Parrish.” Henry goaded, “Aren’t you curious?”

“Maybe, but I’m also a prefect.” Adam replied coolly. “I don’t think I should be breaking the rules this ostentatiously.”

Ronan scoffed loudly and Adam whipped round to face him. “Let’s be real,” he said, “McGonagall only made you prefect in the hope it would keep the rest of us in line.” He had said it lightly but it struck Adam to the core like a blade of ice. He knew it was supposed to be a joke but he just couldn’t help the cold feeling that dripped down his spine at the words. Eyes flicking to Ronan, Adam saw the other boy’s eyebrows pull together slightly as he noticed his friends discomfort but before anyone could add to the situation, Gansey thankfully stepped in. “If it make anyone uncomfortable to be here, they should not feel that they have to join us under any duress.” He said firmly. Adam stayed where he was, but was grateful for the acknowledgment. As much as he felt the need to say something in his position as prefect, there was no chance in hell he was going back to the dorm now. Merlin or no Merlin, his curiosity had been piqued. What did he really have to lose? Even after six years of Hogwarts, living this magical life still felt like a fever dream. He couldn’t help but want to drink it all in. Gansey nodded at him, a small smile on his face belaying his pride. It was difficult because Adam never knew if Gansey’s pride in him pissed him off or not.

When they reached the edge of the trees, all four came to an abrupt halt. It was barely dusk anymore, the sun almost set over the shimmering lake. Adam took a deep breath as he observed the forest in front of him. Despite their adventures in and around Hogwarts, they’d never ventured very far into the forbidden forest before. To be perfectly honest, their adventures before this had almost entirely consisted of sneaking down to the kitchen in the middle of the night and extensive research on the limits of the Room of Requirement. It wasn’t so hard for Adam to believe in mystical orbs and mysterious symbols when he was stood on the edge of a forest that almost hummed with magic. Ronan turned to Gansey. “In?”

Gansey nodded, pulling out his wand. “Lumos,” he said, peering into the dense trees. He visibly braced himself. “Onwards.”

After a hundred yards in, the other three copied him and together the four glowing wands cast a substantial amount of light in the oppressive dark. They picked their way through the forest slowly, carefully, hoping not to disturb anything or trip over a stray route. After walking silently for a few minutes, Gansey turned to Ronan. “Are we going the right way?”

Even in the shadows, Adam could see Ronan’s shrug. “Couldn’t fucking tell you, mate. I was following you.”

They all stopped dead. “What do you mean?” Gansey said sharply. “I thought we were following you!”

Ronan shrugged again and Adam sighed. This was just brilliant. He couldn’t quite believe that they’d all just assumed Ronan knew where he was going. If it was real at all.

“Are you absolutely sure?” Henry said in disbelief. “Can’t you remember anything?”

Ronan shrugged again. “All I can remember is that it was near the main path. It didn’t take me long to find my way out again.”

Gansey clung onto this small piece of information for dear life. “Okay, so we’re on the right track. When you recognise it a bit more, we can rethink. Is there anything else you remember?”

Ronan was silent for a moment. “It wasn’t too far from the clearing.” He said finally.

The tension that grew within the group was so thick you could cut it with a butter knife. As far as any of them knew, Kavinsky wasn’t having a party that night but Adam knew how uncomfortable they all were at the idea of going there, even if it was for different reasons. Gansey, ever the leader, stood tall and made a decision. “Okay. We go to the clearing and scope it out.” He made sure they’d all nodded back at him before gesturing for Ronan to lead the way, who considered for a moment before turning right off the path and moving further into the thick trees. Adam followed closely behind and regarded the back of Ronan’s head curiously. He could tell that the boy in question was scowling but Adam knew it was not anger but nerves that caused him to look that way. It was clear to everyone that Ronan liked to keep these two parts of his life as separate as possible and here they were, walking from one part to the other. But he wouldn’t stop them. He wouldn’t stop Gansey when he was this excited about something. So they walked further and further into the forest, jumping at the smallest of noises. The quiet that would be so calming in any other forest felt threatening and dangerous.

Adam could just about see the start of the clearing before they heard something more substantial than vague rustling. Ronan turned to look back at Adam behind him with wide eyes. Adam was pretty sure his expression looked the same. Everyone looked at Gansey for guidance but he looked as terrified as the rest of them. As the noise got closer, they could tell it was voices. Human voices. Still not entirely comforting as a lot of creatures in the woods sounded human but these ones sounded quite familiar. When McGonagall’s voice became recognisable, the four boys started to panic as if a monster really had been on their tails. Gansey looked wildly around him, looking for an out, and when he didn’t find one, he shrugged and ducked down onto the floor. “Nox.” He said, and his wand went out. Adam shared a look with the other two and with no other ideas forthcoming, they followed suit and extinguished their wands, plunging them into darkness.

Adam could feel everyone holding their breath as what must have been the teachers come through the trees in their direction. To Adam’s immense relief, however, they stopped a few feet over. Once the adrenaline had started to wear off, a sharp smell was starting to hit his nose. “Who farted?” Henry muttered. Ronan kicked him. As the voices became clearer, it was possible to work out what was being said and the lit wands revealed who had come to the clearing. But they weren’t actually going into the clearing. Raising his head slightly, Adam tried to get a good look at what his teachers had come to see. He saw Professor McGonagall, Hagrid, Professor Longbottom from herbology and Professor Pineberry from astronomy gathered around what looked like a huge mound of earth. He squinted his eyes, trying to see what it was through the dark and when he finally put the sight and smell together he had to physically stop himself gagging.

The lump in front of him was a heavily mutilated centaur. Massive gashes ran u and down its sides, its’ head had been bashed in so much it barely looked like it’s human element and if Adam looked really closely, he could almost see a significant lack of leg. He lowered himself down again and he could feel himself shaking. At his violent reaction, the other three had raised their heads to look and his feeling was mirrored on their faces. Gansey looked at Adam, stricken. “Who would have done that?” he mouthed. Adam had a pretty good idea who had done it and just looked back grimly. He strained his ears to try and hear what the teachers were saying. “…could have done this.” Pineberry was saying.

“He’s an idiot,” Longbottom said harshly, “It’s disgusting he would...” the professor was lost for words.

Hagrid let out a barely concealed sob. “He signed it.” He forced out miserably. In an instant, Adam realised that those gashes weren’t random. He pulled himself up again and looked at the poor, mutilated centaur again. In the light of the four teacher’s wands, he could make out a shape. 

It was a ‘K’.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who's baaaaaaaaack....!
> 
> Yeah, I know it's been a while. It's not that I didn't want to carry on but I just hadn't reread the books in so long I felt that I didn't know the characters anymore and didn't want to mess them up and make them super out of character. I just didn't have the time to be perfectly honest with you. BUT I found time in the last couple of weeks and reread the shit out of those books so more should be coming your way soon!
> 
> If you're wondering how I know where to take this from where I left off I did have the entire plot planned out beginning to end soooooo that's lucky.
> 
> The page of wands symbolises enthusiasm, exploration and discovery, HOWEVER, when reversed it means setbacks, pessimism and lack of direction. Thought both of these were appropriate for this chapter.
> 
> Hope you enjoy! x


	9. Seven of Swords

Blue could not remember the last time she was this angry.  As _if_ she’d wasted any of her precious time on people that would be openly friends with those that endorsed this kind of shitty behaviour.  It had been bad enough when they were too self-absorbed and ignorant about the murdered centaur to know about it, but now it was a subject of gossip and they were _still_ friends with that _shitbag_ who went to those _fucking_ parties every _goddamn_ time– Blue was very angry.  She wasn’t the sort of girl to smugly proclaim ‘I told you so’ but the fact that she had actually told them so did tempt her into disregarding her principles and stooping low enough to say it.  She could barely look at Lynch during Care of Magical Creatures without wanting to rip her hair out.  Or his hair out.  Or Kavinsky’s hair out.  Or even Gansey’s, though she wasn’t sure why she particularly thought of him.  Or why he should be included in the punishment.  For being friends with Ronan, she guessed, but that would mean she had to attack Adam as well and she honestly just didn’t have the time for all that.

She looked around disdainfully at the rest of her classmates.  The news from the day before had spread like wildfire and it was the absolute height of gossip.  Blue had overheard Prokopenko bragging about a fight with a centaur after catching the tail end of a teary Hagrid whisper about his gruesome find to McGonagall outside the headmistress’s office and so had put two and two together pretty quickly, but obviously Blue had no one she wanted to tell about it.  So she silently fumed at the Raven Boys and waited for the news to inevitably spread.  It was awful, she thought, how all these people only cared about the gossip and not the awful fact that this centaur had been brutally murdered.  The excitement in their voices made her sick.  Speaking of sick… her eyes slid involuntarily to Lynch.  He looked gray and queasy, petting the raven that was usually perched on his shoulder with what looked like shaky hands.  In usual circumstances, Blue might have sympathised but in this case… not so much.  She watched him poke absentmindedly at the blast-ended skrewt in front of him.  She suspected Hagrid had given them such a simple task because he wasn’t up to teaching today.  Flicking her gaze over to her teacher, she noticed him get steadily more agitated the longer he classmates gossiped about the grisly findings.  Blue admired how well her favourite teacher was able to keep it together in front of his class.

Ten minutes before the end of the period, however, Hagrid had given up.  “ENOUGH!” He bellowed at the class.  Several skrewts blasted and the class fell silent.  Hagrid drew himself together.  “I know yeh may ‘ave ‘eard some things abou’ what ‘appened the other night.  To set the record straight; the centaur Ronan –” the human Ronan gagged and Blue shot him a glare.  If it was possible, the boy had gone even grayer and had his hand over his mouth as his eyes bugged out in an attempt to stop himself heaving again.  She turned back to Hagrid “– was foun’ dead this mornin’ from acromantula attack.  Tha’s it.  Nothin’ else to it.  Yeh hear me?”  He glared around the abashed class.  “I will not have people spreadin’ rumours.  Tha’s the end of it.”  Blue didn’t believe a word but the rest of her peers had seemed to accept it with no issue and some of them actually looked a little abashed.  She looked at Lynch, who still didn’t look like he’d recovered.  When Hagrid told them to pack up, he dashed off so quickly she barely saw him leave.

It wasn’t until she was half way up the hill back to the castle that she heard someone retching into the bushes off to the side of where she was walking.  Curious, she peered over and saw Lynch himself vomiting up his breakfast into the undergrowth.  The violent reaction to the death of the centaur caused Blue’s opinion of Lynch to rise a very small bit.  This wasn’t saying much as her opinion of him was already so low, but it raised a small inkling of sympathy for him and she regarded him for a moment.  It was not enough sympathy to engage, however, so she turned away and back up towards the castle.  It was interesting, she thought, that he reacted so strongly to the news.  Completely unexpected but somehow it didn’t really surprise her.  She’d seen him with his raven; soft and unguarded as he cared for it.  She’d also seen him in Care for Magical Creatures where the hard lines of his frown relaxed into a smile when he paid attention to the creatures they were studying.  It wasn’t hard to guess that Ronan’s hard exterior was a façade but it was another thing entirely to actually see the proof of that.  Sometimes it wasn’t so hard to understand why his friends stuck around.

She stopped dead in her tracks, causing a small pileup at the door to the castle, and shook her head.  Good god, she was going soft.  The boy didn’t deserve an award for being a decent fucking human being.  After pulling herself together, she quickly rounded the corner and went crashing into Adam Parrish and Gansey.  They stared at each other a moment before Adam offered her a tentative smile.  After another moment she smiled back.  Then she remembered Ronan vomiting alone in the hedges.  “Just so you know, Lynch is chucking up his breakfast in the hedges next to the bridge.  Not sure why but you should probably check on him.” She deigned to nod in acknowledgment of Gansey, half smiled again at Adam and quickly carried on down the corridor before either of them could reply.

“Thanks!” Adam called after her, to no avail.

Gansey pondered for a moment, hand on his lip.  “You’re right,” he said softly, “she does do that a lot.”

Adam nodded in confounded agreement.  He looked anxiously out of the door that led to the bridge.  “We should find Ronan.”

Pursing his lips, Gansey hummed his agreement.  “I didn’t think he’d take it this hard.” He said as they walked briskly out of the door and down towards the bridge.  Adam didn’t reply but there wasn’t really much to reply with.

It didn’t take them long to find Ronan as he wasn’t far from the path, but he didn’t look in good shape.  His face was pale and colourless, his legs pulled up to his chest and he was breathing deeply and heavily.  The two boys rushed over to him.  Gansey put a hand on his friends shoulder.  “You alright?”

Ronan nodded.  “Just trying not to throw up,” He answered quietly in between slow breaths.

Gansey looked cluelessly at Adam.  Neither of them knew really what to do; Ronan was not the type to take sympathy.  Gansey was surprised he’d let them stick around to be honest.  Ronan looked up.  “Don’t need to look so fucking lost,” he grumbled, “That thing last night fucked me up, is all.”

That didn’t help either of them.  It was easier to deal with a sick Ronan than an emotional one.  Adam’s face suddenly cleared.  “Is this because the centaur was called Ronan?”  Human Ronan gagged again.

Gansey looked back at Adam after he’d made sure Ronan wasn’t going to vomit again.  “How do you know that?”

Adam shrugged.  “Jerimiah was talking about it this morning.  Don’t ask how he found out,” he added quickly, “I don’t want to know.”

Gansey didn’t really know what to do with this information.  He knew that Ronan had a tendency to take things like this to heart but there was no way that he would allow to talk to them about it.  So Gansey kept it simple.  “Do you need to go to Madame Pomfrey?” he asked.

Ronan looked at him like he was crazy.  “I’m not a fucking wimp.” He muttered and pulled himself up.  “It’s ancient runes next, isn’t it?”

Gansey nodded silently as Adam waved his wand and cleaned up the mess in the bushes.  There was no point arguing and he sure as hell wasn’t going to persuade his friend against going to lessons.  

Once they’d got to said lesson, Gansey felt a little less sympathetic and a lot more curious.  He couldn’t decide if he was more interested in the centaur or the symbol and much to Ronan’s annoyance, it was him that could possibly provide the answers to both of them.  Something about the murder of the centaur stood out to Gansey but he couldn’t quite put his finger on the truth of it.  He felt it was a little odd that the night mystical symbols appear on trees also happened to be the night Kavinsky finally lost it and fell into a frenzy.  It felt bigger than two separate events and Gansey really wanted to find out why.  Although Ronan looked vaguely interested in the link Gansey had made, he did not move to answer any of the questions Gansey had posed.  So, Gansey pressed.  “So you’re absolutely sure that you didn’t see any of the attack on the centaur?”

Ronan sighed and scribbled some of his translation.  “No Dick, for the millionth time, I wasn’t involved in that.  I was following magical lights at this point.”

Gansey tapped his lip with his wand.  “So it was definitely after you’d left.  That’s interesting.  I wonder if we can pinpoint a time, though I’m not sure how.”

“I’m not sure either.” Ronan rolled his eyes.

“I wasn’t asking, it was a rhetorical question.  Also, don’t be a dick.  Anyway, is there any way you can remember what time you left?”  Ronan just gave him a look.  “Hm.  Evidently not.”  Gansey had moved from tapping his lip to the table and Professor Whelk raised his head from marking and shushed them.  Gansey stopped tapping but turned back to Ronan to ask about how long he thought he’d slept.  Turned out to be a fruitless endeavour but there had to be something Ronan remembered.  “How does this link to Merlin?” Ronan asked before Gansey could get another question in.

The other boy paused for a moment.  “I suppose… it just seems a little too coincidental that the night you see… whatever that was, was the night that Kavinsky and his lot do something this awful.  This is totally new, it’s not like anything like this has ever happened before.  Maybe the power from Merlin could have, I don’t know, fuelled it?  Fuelled a sort of, you know, frenzy?”

Ronan looked unusually thoughtful.  “I’m sorry to break it to you, but I don’t think that gathering was much different from any other time.” He paused.  “Could have been a sudden surge though.  I wasn’t there for that bit, so I wouldn’t know if anything had changed in the moment.”

Gansey nodded slowly, trying to piece it all together in his head.  “I think I need to see this tree symbol for myself.  It’s all too hypothetical at the moment.”

Ronan scoffed loudly. “And Merlin’s awakening is _not_ hypothetical.”

“Not in my book.” Gansey sniffed haughtily, but couldn’t supress a laugh.  It was all a little ridiculous but he couldn’t shake this.  Before Ronan could reply, Whelk had walked over to their shared desk.

“I’m sure whatever you’re talking about can wait until after the lesson has finished,” he said, a nasal lilt to his voice, “and if I have to ask you to be quiet again, you will both have detention.”  Neither of the boys said anything in return and satisfied, Whelk returned to his desk at the front of the class.

Although he did not show it, the professor’s brain was whirring.  He remembered the passage Gansey had brought to him in their very first lesson and how he’d refused to get his hopes up.  Hearing the boys talk about it still, so many weeks later, had inevitably sunk itself into his gut and he felt himself reconsidering the situation.  He felt himself become somewhat excited for the first time in almost twenty years.  What he could _gain_ from finding Merlin.  As much as he wanted to keep the anticipation under lock and key he was not stupid.  Strange wisps and druidic symbols on trees did suggest something more than kids messing around.  The problem at the moment, however, was that they didn’t know enough to really give him any grounds for going out himself.  There was no way Whelk wanted to snoop around the castle himself, especially in his position as teacher.  It would look very bad for him to be seen wandering around the forbidden forest, especially considering his, ah, situation.  No, he mused, that absolutely wouldn’t do.   He could be patient.  He’d listen and gain all the information he could from those boys and in the last moment… well, he’d have to hope they were careless.

So a plan was now in motion.  Now he’d done what he felt to be the hard bit, Whelk lay down his marking and spent the rest of the period fantasizing about what he would do if he found Merlin.  He was not even ashamed to admit to himself that it was the fame and fortune that was the driving factor in all of this. The amount of money he could make off it would be enough for him to never have to work another day in the blasted school.  It would probably be enough for him to never have to work again apart from the occasional memoir about his exploits.  The fame and respect would be better than when his family were… well, when they had power and money.  He watched Gansey and Lynch and resented them.  Resented their family heritage, their money and their carefree lifestyle.  He remembered what it was like to be them, convinced they were invincible.  But with Merlin, he could be like that again.  They could all be like that again.

 

*

 

It did come as a surprise, however, that Gansey’s search was popular knowledge amongst the staff.  It appeared he had been asking all his teachers for advice and in turn they found it all quite endearing.  McGonagall had made a rare visit to the staff room and was engaged in a discussion about it with Longbottom, Potts and some of the other professors.  Well, Whelk thought to himself, at least they didn’t believe him enough to search themselves.

“I’m so glad he’s taking an interest in history.” McGonagall was saying to the others.  “It’s nice to see people exploring the castle again.”

Longbottom nodded in agreement.  “At some point, though, I am going to just have to send him to the library for answers.  There are some things even I can’t answer.”

“It’s a concept that has puzzled magical historians for decades,” Binns added in his slow voice, “It’s astonishing that they’ve even thought to look at all.”  After making his brief contribution, he promptly dozed off again.

“It must be infuriating for his classmates if they’re always waiting on his questions though.” Potts shook her head and Longbottom laughed out loud at her statement.

“Oh, they love it though!  Distract the teacher and get a few minutes away from work.” Longbottom said knowingly.  “Similar to when Hermione Granger asked you about the chamber of secrets in second year, Professor.” He had turned to the headmistress who smiled fondly.

“It does remind me of Potter’s lot.” She laughed.

“Which Potter?” Potts put in.  “The first or second?”

“Or third!” Longbottom added.  “We’ve taught very different Potters, professor.”

Whelk watched McGonagall think for a moment.  Her regal face barely wrinkled as she thought and as he stared he was reminded once again just how terrified of her he really was.  “I was thinking James, but could be Harry.  I’m not so sure about the younger lot.”

Neville laughed again.  “The younger ones are definitely a handful.  That Potter-Weasley-Granger clan have got all the troublemaking genes and none of the problems.”

“They’re only first and second years, aren’t they?” Quineus had decided to join in.  “There’s still time.”

“Maybe Gansey and co should speak to Hermione.” Potts said thoughtfully.  “There must be something she knows about it up in that ministry.”

“Not that she could share, Marjorie.” McGonagall admonished.  “I don’t think that they ever went looking for something like this though.  Never heard of ‘Power Vaults’ before.”

Whelk’s ears pricked up.  ‘Power Vaults’?  That was something he’d not heard about yet.  Unfortunately one of the other professors had caught onto his sudden interest and included him unwillingly.  He’d never made an effort to get along with his co-workers, especially as he was very aware of how much they loathed him.  He wandered over nonchalantly.

“Have you heard about Gansey’s quest?” Potts asked tightly.

Whelk shook his head and tried to look disinterested.  He could tell he was failing.

“Hm.  You should ask him about it if you’re interested.” Longbottom suggested.  “He’s willing to share it with anyone.”

The teachers carried on chattering but he barely paid them any attention.  The mention of ‘Power Vaults’ was fascinating.  This was something he could look up without raising too much suspicion.  The more he thought about it, the more he could feel the desperation rising up inside him.

He really needed to find Merlin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lol I know it's been a month but this is kind of how it's going to be I'm afraid! I'm second year at uni so got so much work to do as well as trying to have a social life but trying to write as much as possible! I've also had two weeks worth of tonsilitis so that's held it up a bit too I guess. Will hopefully have the next one up a bit quicker for you.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed this chapter! It's proper heating up now... of course I had to have Whelk causing problems if I wanted to be true to his character. Let me know what you think of it all - especially now some of the teachers get a bit more screentime.
> 
> The Seven of Swords symbolises 'a spy in the camp' as well as a warning not to look back on or wish for things to be as they were... make of that what you will!


	10. Five of Wands

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some pretty nasty language at the end of this one just so you're warned - it is part of the story but it's, you know, not nice.

After informing Gansey and Parrish about Lynch throwing up, Blue had managed to keep any contact with the Raven Boys minimal for over a fortnight. Given, she had been speaking occasionally to Adam in Potions and had been mildly more respondent to Henry around Ravenclaw tower and in lessons, but in general she’d managed to keep herself to herself. She kept up with her studies, didn’t argue with her roommates and in general was living a sturdy, pleasant day to day routine. That hadn’t stopped her noticing the days when Henry slipped out of the common room past midnight to meet the others for some adventure or the heated discussions they had during breakfast or prep. Even though she didn’t grasp much of their conversations, she could tell they were discussing whatever they’d discovered about their hunt for Merlin. After seeing what Lynch was scratching into the table that day in potions, she’d been intrigued and did a little of her own research. Having already known it was a druid’s mark, with some brief research in the library and a few owls to her family she’d been able to deduce on her own it was a mark of Merlin and his court. Blue was more than a little proud of herself but still felt off-kilter. She had no idea why she wanted to know what that symbol meant but had put it down to light curiosity. It didn’t explain why she was trying to get everything she could out of Noah though.

However, Noah was being predictably unhelpful, far more interested in why she was suddenly so obsessed with the boys adventures that what these adventures actually contained. It was massively frustrating but there was no way she was going to admit out loud that the boys had caught her interest with this particular adventure. But even if she wasn’t actively involved she was keeping an ear and an eye out, particularly on the unpleasant Professor Whelk. She hadn’t missed how he’d suddenly become the professor who took sixth year prep despite spending every other year trying to get out of it, or the way he always slowed down when he got to their area of the table in the great hall during meals. He was her least favourite teacher, even if she’d never had a class with him, purely because of the aura he emitted. She didn’t have to be an accomplished psychic to notice that he radiated unpleasantness. Greasy hair, sallow complexion, a permanent six o’clock shadow… she wasn’t usually one to judge by looks but combined with an expression similar to someone in the presence of troll stench, it was rather unnerving. But she had no one she would tell, so she kept it to herself. She didn’t even tell Noah, as he was obviously tell the boys and then they’d know she was paying attention to them. It would be utterly mortifying. So for a fortnight she kept herself to herself and carried on with her frankly quite mundane, routine.

That was until one particular evening halfway through October when Henry Cheng approached her confidently during Friday’s supper. She’d sat down on her own, as usual, but was mightily surprised to see Henry bump down on the bench next to her instead of a few places down with his other Ravenclaw friends. She eyed him suspiciously as she helped herself to the weekly fish, chips and peas. Fully aware that she was probably going to demand what he wanted any minute, Henry calmly helped himself to the meal and then turned to her with the biggest shit-eating grin she’d ever seen on his face. “S-aaah-rgent,” he said, and Blue knew what was coming. 

The dreaded favour. 

“We were just wondering if you would like to join us for prep and whether we could ask for your assistance on some of this Merlin situation.”

Blue continued to just stare at him. She couldn’t even organise her thoughts into coherency, let alone her expression. “What do you mean?” she finally replied.

“There’s a couple of things we think you may be able to educate us on and –” Blue scoffed and Henry smiled ruefully back at her, “– well, you’d be surprised at the amount Gansey doesn’t know.” The shit-eating grin was back as he waited for her verdict. As much as she wanted to be the sort of person to say no and head to the library to finish off her work for the week, there was a part of Blue that was desperate to do something more than just carry on with school work. The bigger part of her brain was screaming at her to ignore them and carry on working towards high grades and an amazing placement with the Lovegood-Scamander’s but it was somehow drowned out by the tiny petulant corner of her brain that was starting to admit she was, well, a bit bored.

Blue stared at him blankly for another moment and watched as Henry’s grin faltered slightly and he moved to turn away. “Hang on!” Blue grabbed his arm. “Yeah sure, I’ll help.”

Henry’s grin somehow got wider. “Oh brilliant, Dick’s going to be thrilled.” He took a huge bite of food and attempted to speak through it. “I would attempt to fill you in but Gansey will do it anyway.”

Blue nodded nervously. She had no idea where this anxiety had come from but there was no backing down now. Blue Sargent had not been brought up to go back on promises, even small ones. Oh dear Blue, she thought to herself, what are you getting yourself into?

She wasn’t surprised that she didn’t care about the answer.

*

After the feast finished, Henry led her to the table in the library the other three boys had claimed. Three and a half if you counted Noah. She had no idea why she was so scared but holy Merlin, she felt like she was shitting bricks at the thought of actually being a part of whatever these Raven Boys were doing. At their arrival, the group was struck into a stunned silence, evidently due to the fact that she’d turned up at all. She felt indignation rise up within her but then remembered that it meant her reputation was still intact. At least there was that. She had a quick look around the group, taking in each of the boys in turn. Lynch was his normal sulky self, the raven perched on his shoulder as usual. There wasn’t much new there so she moved her gaze to Gansey, who, after the shock had worn off, looked incredibly meek. As he should, she thought, after that complete embarrassment of a confrontation that he’d never actually apologised for. Lastly was Adam, who gave her a warm smile and looking back she felt very much relieved that he was there. Behind her, Henry was eying them all as she was – how very Ravenclaw – and Noah just gave her a wave from the other side of Lynch. She smiled tightly and pulled up a chair. Blue noticed the notebook on the table with what they knew already detailed on the paper. She also noticed the blue ballpoint pen that lay on top of the pages, evidently an addition from Adam, and she couldn’t help a small smile. She found it almost laughable that someone like Gansey had even deigned to use something so ‘muggle’.

Henry sat down next to her and banged his fist lightly on the table. “The meeting is called to action!”

Adam rolled his eyes. “I’m not sure that’s the phrase, Cheng.”

“Does it matter?” Henry retorted with elaborate hand movements.

Gansey glared at the both of them. “Let’s not waste any time. We have stuff to do and only an hour to do it in.” he turned to Blue. “How much has Henry told you?”

Blue felt her face and chest heat at the revelation to the rest of the group that she was clueless. It wasn’t in her comfort zone or psyche to ever be clueless. She tried to remember what Adam had said all those weeks ago, that Gansey did not mean to be like that, but it still stung. “Nothing yet.” She said shortly.

If Gansey recognised her tone, he didn’t react to it. If anything, he looked a little excited. “Brilliant! Let me fill you in.” he turned a few pages back in his notebook and began to fill Blue in on all the facts from their hunt. She was told about school founders and lakes of Avalon and willow the wisps and strange markings on trees and murdered centaurs and the links that drew all the seemingly random facts together. The only thing that stood out as strange to her was the concept of ‘Power Vaults’. Pursing her lips in confusion, she held up her hand. Gansey’s spiel ground to a halt and he looked expectantly at her. “What are these ‘Power Vaults’?” she asked him.

Gansey tapped his lip. “We’re not entirely sure,” he answered, “but the assumption is that where huge magical events occur, nature has its’ own way of then storing that power.”

Blue nodded slowly, starting to understand. A moment later, Adam cut in. “It’s almost like the forbidden forest is a huge power site of its’ own. There are more magical creatures living in it than any other forest in the country, even ones that repel muggles.”

Blue listened carefully, trying to understand exactly what they were saying. It was slowly piecing together in her brain but it was a lot of information to take in one sitting. 

Adam seemed to understand this. “It’s a lot, I know,” he said softly, “but it will get clearer as we go on. I don’t really understand much either.” Blue stifled a laugh but then looked back at Gansey. Something had just clicked.

“Did you mention something about fate?” she asked.

Gansey nodded. “Yeah,” he looked back at his notes. “It’s fated that he will be woken up.”

“Okay, but what happens before that? What’s the progression?” Blue asked, her eyebrows drawn together in the middle.

The group stared at her a moment, none of them quite sure how to answer.

“Oh! We don’t know,” Adam answered after a moment, clarification lighting up in his eyes, “but I get what you mean. There’s something but we don’t know what it is.”

Henry raised his hand. “I don’t know what you mean. Please explain?” Gansey and Noah nodded in agreement with Henry, looking just as confused. Ronan was picking his nails.

“Fate and destiny aren’t just things that happen,” Adam explained, “It’s a lot more complicated than that. Everything that happens is because of choices and events that have happened potentially centuries or millennia before it’s actually due to occur. It’s only fated because of these, but that could change depending on the choices other people then make.”

Blue nodded in agreement. “It’s possible to predict people’s decisions or have a loosely set destiny, but in this case I’m pretty sure it’s working more like a timer or trigger. The result for this may be that Merlin would awake due to a certain trigger, like someone going looking for him. Or it could be when a certain amount of trees have grown, or a certain amount of years, then trees and then when people go to wake him.” It was the longest thing she’d ever said out loud to these people and Gansey was scribbling at the speed of light, looking positively elated.

“This is brilliant!” he grinned. “We could have a look for that trigger then, and everything will be set into motion!”

Adam still looked sceptic. “I think something might have set it off already. It could be why Ronan saw that symbol the other night.”

Lynch raised his arm sarcastically in acknowledgment before going back to picking at his nails. Adam rolled his eyes.

Ignoring it, Blue pushed on. “I could always send an owl to my mum and ask about it? She might know a lot more than we do.” At the same time as Adam, Gansey and Henry said ‘yeah, definitely’, Ronan scoffed loudly. Adam looked at him, a thunderous expression on his face that the rest of the group pointedly ignored. Gansey put his hand in front of Blue’s across the table. “Thank you so much, that would be a brilliant help.”

Before Blue’s ineptitude at socialising could let the moment get awkward, Noah groaned loudly. “Can we talk about something else now?”

“You know, you don’t actually have to be here.” Gansey pointed out.

Noah gave him a look. “You have no idea, man. Even Merlin chats are less torturous than a flirty Moaning Myrtle.” He shuddered. The group fell into giggles at the grim look on Noah’s face and even Lynch cracked a smile.

“Aaah,” Ronan cooed from his corner, “Noah and Myrtle, sitting in the U-bend…”

Much to her surprise, Blue found herself laughing at Lynch’s joke along with the rest of the group.

During the teasing of Noah, the bell marking ten o’clock had gone off and they all began to pack their things up. Marking the page in his notebook, Gansey turned to them all. 

“So, plan of action. Blue will ask her mother, we’ll consider research and… same time next week?” the rest of them nodded but Blue was thrown. Next week? She hadn’t thought she’d signed on for that much. Before she could let the tiny part of her brain speak up and agree, she let the rational part of her head take over. “Hang on,” she said, “I didn’t actually sign up for this. I have work to do. This isn’t some big gang thing that I can spend all my time doing.” She pretended not to notice Gansey’s crestfallen face in the corner of her eye.

Henry patted her shoulder. “We wouldn’t ask that of you, Blue.”

“Oh.” She wasn’t sure how to answer. “Good.”

Adam nodded. “Yeah, I have a load of work to do as well. Think we all do, it’s not a full time job. Don’t worry.”

“I don’t have any work to do!” Noah piped up. Lynch swung his bag through the ghost, causing him to wail like something out of a horror flick, disappearing through the bookshelf behind them.

Henry and Blue walked in silence to Ravenclaw Tower. Blue was not sure exactly what she had got herself into but she felt a certain amount of excitement brewing within her.

In the weeks that followed, she would learn exactly what that one meeting would get her into. Apparently one meeting with the boys was enough to land her with a sure fire membership into the Raven Club. If she wasn’t sat with Henry and, surprisingly, Ronan, in Defence Against the Dark Arts she was called over to join them for breakfast. If she’d missed them at breakfast, Adam would be at her shoulder in Potions asking how she was. The days she didn’t have potions, she would be surprised by Lynch flinging himself down next to her during Care of Magical Creatures. That one was a big surprise as Ronan had made it very clear he did not like her at all. And she had made her similar feelings just as clear. Adam had informed her it was most likely because she didn’t try to talk to him during the class. That made a lot of sense to Blue, as she and Lynch barely shared a single word during all the time she’d spent with them and was just as quiet during their lesson. Blue wasn’t about to try and analyse the complicated psyche of Ronan Lynch. For the most part, they worked in comfortable silence with their creatures and it meant neither of them had to deal with anyone else in the class again when “pair up” was inevitably called.

At least twice a week Gansey called a ‘gang meeting’ in Prep to discuss however far they’d gotten in their research but it usually just dissolved into carnage; Noah would complain, Ronan would throw something at him or make a joke, Adam would laugh and chip in, Henry would throw in something completely off topic and Gansey would be so lost that he would have to ask and then then the cycle would start again. Blue sometimes found herself contributing to the silliness, surprising herself by the action. She learnt more about those Raven Boys than she ever thought she would; Ronan and Adam were always butting heads but never fell out, Gansey really didn’t know he was being patronising and Henry was constantly surprising her with his insightfulness. She felt off kilter being a part of this at all but it was exhilarating. Blue didn’t really know what to do with herself in the time she was alone and once or twice found herself seeking out Adam in the library or Henry in the Ravenclaw common room just as something to do. It was so out of character but at the same time… let’s just say she didn’t explicitly hate it.

One such time, she’d managed to find Henry during the free hour between lessons and the evening meal and so, even though it was rare for them to do, they made their way down to supper together. When they came close to the Ravenclaw table, they heard a shout, made more deafening by the fact it was from barely a foot away. “Cheng!” Chengtwo bellowed cheerfully and yanked Henry down next to him, almost sending them both, plus a few dishes, straight to the floor. “It’s been a while, mate!” As the two Henry’s made an effort to right themselves, Blue stood awkwardly for a moment, not sure if she should head off and leave the group to it. As if she read Blue’s mind, Jess Heninway waved her over from a couple of seats down. “Hey Blue!” she greeted her warmly. No one pointed out that it was a little weird for her to be there and she was thankful for it. “Ignore the boys; they’ll be done in a moment.” Blue nodded and shyly sat down next to Jess. Across the table, Logan Rutherford was spelling bits of food so they would jump away from people’s forks and Magnolia was rolling her eyes to the ceiling. It was loud and boisterous and everything that Blue was starting to get used to.

Giving up on her other friends, Magnolia turned to Blue. “How’re you finding sixth year? NEWTs giving you a hard time?”

Blue shrugged, relieved that someone else had initiated the conversation but determined not to show it. “They’re a bit of a bitch but at least I want to do these subjects.”

“Ugh, tell me about it.” Magnolia shook her head as she picked at her meal. “I thought OWLs took up a lot of my time but this is just a joke. How many hours a week do you guys have?” she asked, looking between the two girls.

“Twenty-two,” Jess replied with a sigh. “I had to take all the subjects with those extra-long sessions.”

Blue nodded. “I’m at fifteen, but its potions and magical creatures that take up most of my time.”

“I know! Who needs six hours of contact time in one go?” Jess grumbled.

“It’s important to spend a lot of practical time with creatures and could you really brew a NEWT level potion in two hours?” Magnolia raised her eyebrows at her girlfriend.

Jess stuck her tongue out. “Don’t be a know-it-all, babe.”

Blue found herself relaxing into the situation, laughing as Magnolia threw a chunk of bread across the table.

As if he had a sensor for carnage, Chengtwo whipped his head around to look at them. “Oh my god, are we having a food fight?” The colour drained from Magnolia’s face as she realised what she had done and could only watch as chaos reigned over the Ravenclaw table.

Thankfully, Blue thought as she left the table an hour later, she’d managed to avoid most of the mess. The more she considered Henry and his merry bunch, the more she understood. It wasn’t that the group of Ravenclaws weren’t kind or interesting or fun, it was simply that that they just weren’t much more than that. As much as they were hardworking and clever and the rest of it there just wasn’t anything there that made Blue think they might have that something more. It was kind of hard to describe, but they just seemed as though they were happy to live pretty regular lives; enjoy school, do well, get a good job and just carry on. Blue wanted more than that and evidently so did Henry. Gansey was always searching for that something else, which was probably why the others were so drawn to him. It’s not easy to find what you’re looking for if you don’t know what that is. The long and short of it was that Gansey knew exactly what it was that he needed outside the realm of normality. Blue hadn’t been prepared to understand him in the slightest, especially identify with him and his plans. It wasn’t an unpleasant surprise in the least, but it did leave an uncomfortable feeling in her stomach that she couldn’t quite place.

She shook herself. Stop thinking about Gansey, Blue.

As she made her way around the corner, she see some sort of commotion up ahead and stopped, trying to make out the two figures in the dark. It looked like two boys and one had the other pressed up against the wall, their faces very close together. She couldn’t hear what they were saying beyond muffled snarling, but if she hadn’t been able to hear it Blue would have assumed they were kissing, they were so close. She couldn’t remember a time she’d seen two wizards go at it without wands. It wasn’t common to duel with your fists. It was that point that she was pretty sure she knew who at least one of the boys was. As she moved a little closer she found out she was right.

Blue wasn’t really surprised that it was Kavinsky that Lynch had thrown up against the wall.

It was common knowledge within the school that Ronan was the only person who really had any sway over Kavinsky in such a way and it was the source of many rumours around the school. Although she was very aware that they didn’t have the best of relationships, Blue was a little confused as to why it looked like Lynch was going to beat up the guy. 

Still unable to hear she edged forward a bit more, trying to stay in the shadows between the torches.

“…the fuck are you playing at!” Lynch was snarling. “Don’t fucking lie to me.”

Kavinsky laughed without mirth. “Because, shithead, I didn’t kill it!”

Blue saw Ronan’s hand tighten on Kavinsky’s robes. “Him, you cunt. Had a fucking name.”

The other boy flinched minutely at the word ‘cunt’, as did Blue, but still managed to laugh again. Blue was more shaken than she felt she should have been at the sound of that word coming out of Ronan’s mouth so vehemently. “Oh yeah,” Kavinsky said nastily, “the thing’s name was Ronan, wasn’t it?”

It was more of a shriek than a snarl that came out of Ronan’s mouth next. Again, Blue felt pretty shaken at such a sound coming from the boy.

Kavinsky still didn’t give in. “You know, Lynch, I didn’t expect you to have a narcissism kink. Or a bestiality one. Thought being a raging fag was enou-”

Ronan slammed him against the wall so hard that Kavinsky’s head smacked back against the brick with a resounding crack. He still didn’t give up though, bursting into maniacal laughter as if it hadn’t hurt him at all. Must have a pain threshold of steel, Blue thought wondrously.

“Answer the fucking question!” Ronan growled.

Kavinsky put his head very close to the other boys and raised his hand to pat him gently on the side of the face. “Not going to hear it from me, Lynch.”

Evidently knowing he wasn’t going to get an answer from Kavinsky, Ronan slammed him against the wall again and stormed off. The other boy smirked into the darkness and rubbed the back of his slicked head before following suit.

Blue stared after them, very much confused. Her opinion of Ronan had risen just a little bit.

She made the effort to greet Ronan aloud at their next Care of Magical Creatures lesson.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not gonna even bother to make excuses this time - you fab lot that keep up with this ridiculous thing know how inconsistent I am with the update schedule but if you're still reading thanks so much! Can't say it's going to be any different now but I am half way through my degree so it's a lot to try and find time for everything.
> 
> Hope you enjoy the chapter! The next one (that is actually part written) is one of my absolute favourites so look forward to that. I also hope you all like the way the story is going so far - please give me constructive criticism if you want I'm down for it.
> 
> As usual, the chapter title has meaning - the Five of Wands symbolises enjoyment in chaos which is suitable for both the light and dark elements of this chapter I think!!


	11. The Chariot

Halloween was drawing near and with it brought the brilliant reds and golds that autumn always blesses the countryside with. From the windows of the castle the Forbidden Forest glistened like an ocean hit by a sunset and a thin covering of leaves coated the grass down to Professor Hagrid’s hut and Quidditch pitch. The days were getting shorter and the night’s longer, yawning students and teachers alike trooping down to breakfast in the murky light of the dark mornings. Halloween morning was crisp and bright; the cold sun shining down onto the frosty golden leaves that coated the floor. As tradition dictated, the day of the Halloween feast warranted a Hogsmeade weekend and marked the start of the Quidditch season. As such, the castle was loud with excitement as students revelled in both the prospect of the interhouse tournament and the sunny weather to make the walk down towards the small wizarding town less grisly than if it was raining. The light filtered in through the tall windows of the great hall while the school enjoyed breakfast before the day ahead. The first meal of the day was always a political extravaganza for the student body – as there was no requirement to sit at your house table at this time, students mingled and that was when lines were drawn and gossip spread. The only days that people remained on their house tables was the day of a Quidditch match when tensions ran high and the occasional hex to the opposing team was not out of the ordinary.

As usual, Blue was sat alone as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes over bacon and scrambled eggs. Even though she spent a lot of time with those boys now, there was no way she would have the energy to deal with them first thing in the morning. She hated that she was inheriting her mother’s addiction to coffee but there was really no way around it when the days started in darkness. It still felt like the middle of the night and her body needed some adjusting since the clocks had only gone back a few days before. She waved lethargically at Noah as he floated above the Hufflepuff table, but other than that kept her head down over her book and tried to get the words to make sense in her sleep filled brain as she slowly woke up. She almost jumped out of her skin when Henry shoved his head over her page, his face grinning up at her. Once she had picked herself up off the floor from where she’d fallen over the back of the bench, she scowled at him. “What do you want so early in the morning, Cheng?” she grumped at him.

Henry’s grin did not falter. “Are you going to Hogsmeade today?”

Blue sighed. She rarely went to the small wizarding town near the school. It wasn’t novelty to her as she grew up in one. “No, I am not.”

“Do you want to come with me? I could seriously do with a good Butterbeer. The stuff you buy in bottles really isn’t as good.” He looked hopefully at her.

“I’ve got stuff to do today, sorry.” She shrugged back at him, not entirely sure why she was refusing his offer. Might be nice to get out of the castle… “Don’t the others want to go?”

Henry sighed melodramatically. “Gansey’s in love with Merlin, Adam’s working as always and Ronan still doesn’t like me very much. So there’s you!”

“What about Chengtwo and Jess and people?” Blue frowned back at him, closing her book and resigning herself to the conversation.

Henry sighed louder. “Working and/or dates. There are some Ravenclaw spectrum that work very hard. We might be different but we have to understand their plight. And then there are the ones in relationships and we can ignore them out of bitterness. Are you really going to leave me to go on my own?”

“Is there really no one else you could ask? I really have some…um…stuff to do.” Blue could feel herself giving in but declined on principle.

Henry slammed his hands loudly on the table. “Merlin’s beard, Sargent! How many excuses do I need to throw at you before you just come and be my friend?”

He made a good point. Within the next hour, Blue was washed, dressed and wrapped up warm as she stood outside the main doors with Henry signing their names off. The way down to the town was uneventful but pleasant and Henry and Blue talked about anything that wasn’t Merlin, which was somewhat a relief. It turned out that Henry was a fount of gossip and school knowledge and for once Blue found herself intrigued rather than bored, but maybe that was just the way that Henry told it. She found that she was interested in putting bets on the Quidditch matches this year because apparently the teams were really well matched this year and there was no clear winner. She laughed at the exasperating experience that was Chengtwo’s almighty crush on the lesbian and taken Jess, which the whole group found exasperating. She gasped at all the right moments when Henry described the utter scandal that was the Gryffindor captain being found screwing the Hufflepuff seeker two days before they were supposed to be playing against each other. However, she couldn’t quite take him seriously when he went on a spiralling tangent on the topic of Kavinsky and Ronan. “I bet Kavinsky has a thing for Ronan. I’d put money on it.” Henry said adamantly.

Blue rolled her eyes. “That’s disgusting, Henry. It’s Ronan. Even worse, it’s Kavinsky.” She couldn’t stop thinking of that night in the corridor. That didn’t look like sexual tension to her.

Shaking his head, Henry mounted his case. “I swear to you. They’ve been moving in circles for years, ever since the first party. Kavinsky practically begs for his attention!”

“Careful, it sounds like you want to bang him.” Blue laughed.

Henry shook his head again. “Ooh, no. I don’t swing that way, no worries about that! Though Lynch really should be flattered if I did.”

Tucking her coat tighter around herself against the bitter wind, Blue snorted. “You don’t even know that they swing that way. Wishful thinking if you ask me, Cheng.”

Henry stopped dead and stared at her. “Wait what?”

Blue turned back from ahead of him. “Well, it’s a fair point. You’re just projecting at this point.”

“The fuck? How do you not know Ronan’s gay as shit?” Henry exclaimed.

Blue frowned. “Is he? I wouldn’t have known. It’s not like I was caught up on anyone’s love life.”

Henry didn’t look any less shocked. “It’s not a secret! He’s never even been in the closet as far as I know. Merlin, I despair of you Sargent, I really do.” With that, Henry marched forward into town and sung open the door to the Three Broomsticks, Blue close behind, giggling.

The Three Broomsticks really was a lovely place to sit during the colder months. With dark wood interiors and Tudor paned windows, the heat of the roaring fire in the hearth cast a soft light over the areas the candles and oil lamps didn’t cover. Long oak tables in the centre of the room and smaller ones near the windows and walls were complimented by mismatched dark wood chairs and tea lights, while large leather armchairs were placed in the corners and near the fire and tall cushioned stools were lined up along the bar. It was bustling and cheery; the aging but still beautiful Madam Rosmerta assisted by her two daughters and a slew of other people keeping the drinks coming and the customers happy, often stopping for a chat with the locals and welcoming the newcomers (usually third years) who had only just stepped into the pub for the first time. Blue had come here before, even if her first Hogsmeade trips had been alone, but she’d always loved the atmosphere that it held and the bar staff were kind to her when she sat on her own at the bar, book and Butterbeer in hand. It was different walking in when she wasn’t on her own, however. Henry strode up to the bar and ordered for the both of them which caused Blue to blush furiously and insist on buying the next round. Irritatingly, Henry just shrugged back and told her she could if she liked. They sat themselves in the middle of one of the larger tables and chattered away and Blue had to admit she was enjoying herself just a bit. Only a bit.

While sipping at Butterbeer number three, Henry broke off his sentence to meet someone’s eyes over the top of Blue’s spiky hair causing her to turn around. “Lee! Oi, Lee!” Henry shouted over and Blue looked down awkwardly now thrust into a new social situation. She’d only ever heard of the boy as ‘Lee Squared’ and as another Ravenclaw, Henry was of course on good terms with him. Lee was a tall, gangly kid with almost white blonde hair with shockingly blue eyes and Blue had definitely seen him around, so felt awkward that this was their first introduction. “Lee, this is my mate Blue Sargent. Blue, this is Lee, one of my dorm mates. Mate, you going to sit down?” Henry gestured grandly to the seat next to him. 

Lee grinned down at them and waved cheerfully at Blue. “Hey Blue. Think I’ve seen you in Herbology.” Blue nodded and attempted to smile cheerily back. Lee didn’t flinch so she assumed she had pulled it off. Thank god. The boy turned back to Henry. “Yeah, sure, if you guys don’t mind. Persuaded Logan and Steve to drop their work and come down for a break. Is there room?”

Henry grinned and Blue relaxed slightly that she knew one of the other people joining them. “Of course, my dude! The more the merrier!”

Soon enough, the three boys piled into the chairs around Blue and Henry and were chattering away. “So where’s Chengtwo?” Henry asked.

Logan rolled his eyes. “He’s panicking over that essay for Binns. It’s due literally at the end of term but you know what he’s like about his grades.”

“He gets into a serious funk.” Steve supplied for Blue, who smiled in spite of herself.

Lee snorted loudly. “That’s an understatement. Blue, he’s just being kind. It’s every other shitting week he announces he’s going to drop out and become a full time muggle. Bloody pain in the arse if you ask me.”

“How do you become a full time muggle?” Blue asked, laughing.

Steve shrugged. “We don’t hope to understand the mind that is Chengtwo.”

“It’s for our own health.” Logan added. Henry nodded vehemently in agreement.

Lee leant over the table towards Blue and fixed his eyes very seriously on her. She shrank back a little but couldn’t help but giggle. “He’s the sort of boy who named _himself_ Chengtwo instead of his own surname when there were two Henry’s. We have no hope if we don’t want to lose our own damn minds.” The rest of the group nodded seriously and then fell into laughter, Blue with them.

“He sounds like a complicated one.” Blue laughed, surprised that she’d even decided to contribute.

Henry shook his head sadly. “That doesn’t even begin to cover it, my dear Sargent.”

Their conversations continued on the same sort of tangent and they ordered several more rounds of Butterbeer, discussing everything from the upcoming Quidditch season to why on earth ‘A Cauldron of Hot Strong Love’ ever reached the charts. That was a heated conversation; Blue, Lee and Logan arguing that it was awful and tragic, while Henry and Steve were aggressively in favour. Steve was almost in full swing singing the chorus as some sort of proof that it was good when a slight cough sounded from behind them. Still laughing, Blue turned around to see Adam grinning at them, surrounded by what she assumed were his Slytherin friends. “Parrish!” Henry exclaimed joyfully, reaching across the table to drag him down into the seat next to Blue. “Join us!” Adam’s friends still looked a little awkward and so, breaking tension as only Henry was able, he looked up at them full of awe. “I can’t believe you managed to drag Adam away from his work. I salute you, my friends.”

Adam rolled his eyes but the girl standing next to him grinned, her brown eyes crinkling behind her thick framed glasses. “It’s a full time job. He’d never stop if we didn’t make him.” She pulled out the chair next to Adam and taking her lead the other two boys walked round and sat down opposite them, next to Logan. The girl leaned around Adam to look at Blue and stuck her hand out, her long, dark ringlets falling onto the table like a curtain. “I’m Alison Burbage. You’re Blue Sargent, right?” Blue smiled back and nodded, shaking the girl’s hand. Across from her, the boy with the green eyes and black hair waved. “Jerimiah. And that’s Frank.” He jabbed his thumb towards his friend who batted it away. “Good to meet you, Blue.” Frank grinned, rolling his dark eyes at the boy next to him.

From that moment on it became a bit of a party. Adam’s friends were not as boisterous as the Ravenclaw bunch but were sharp and witty, so they matched the speed of the conversation well. It also didn’t hurt that Jerimiah was as much of a gossip as Henry and they spent a lot of the time trading stories and theories with help and injections from the others. They spun a hugely entertaining tale of the student body and it almost felt like Blue hadn’t missed out on anything after they were through. A particularly embarrassing moment for everyone was when Jeremiah was eagerly spilling the beans on how Tad Carruthers in Gryffindor had got so drunk he vomited on Gansey’s dorm bed and the man in question had come up behind them to correct the story. Tad was a huge, hulking guy that played as one of the beaters for the Gryffindor team and shared a dorm with Gansey and Ronan and once he’d shared that story, it was only natural that he bring his friends over and sit with them all. With the new additions of Gryffindors Lily, Jas, Ted, Tad and Finn the table was heaving with loud voices. Ted amused them all for ages by showing off his Metamorphmagus skills, causing them all to shout with laughter at his impression of Whelk, sniffing realistically and recreating his nasal drawl down to complete accuracy. Logan waved his wand about and made everyone’s glasses dance along the table to the awful eighties sounds of Celestina Warbeck, only stopping when Tad pulled his wand out and tried to make two of them fight, causing most of them to break. To top it all off, Henry collected some Hufflepuffs he knew from chess club from the bar and brought them over. Sharon and Jackson seemed pretty shy compared to the rest of the group, but Blue identified with that.

To be honest, she felt quite overwhelmed by it all. But surprisingly that was not a negative thing. Blue couldn’t tell whether she liked the busy surrounding but for once she made herself chatter with everyone because it wasn’t like she could walk away now. Actually, she didn’t even want to. She hadn’t even realised what she was missing out on while she was stuck in the completely incorrect mind-set that she had to keep her head down and ignore everyone to be able to succeed. Listening to the people surrounding her with larger than life dreams and ambitions and hard-working attitudes it was clear that there wasn’t much chance these people would distract her from her work. She looked around curiously and thought to herself ‘is this what having friends is like?’ If it was… then it wasn’t really so bad. It wasn’t going to put her off her dream. She turned to grin at Adam, who grinned back and honestly, it was pretty damn good. So she let herself enjoy it. She enjoyed far too many Butterbeers and enjoyed a few sneaky firewhiskey’s that Tad had managed to wrangle from Madam Rosmerta and soon enough the whole crowd trooped back to the school to the annual Halloween feast, Henry’s arm slung around her shoulders. They had to listen to Jerimiah’s mindless, tipsy chatter from where he was thrown over Logan’s shoulder and they even caught Ronan on their way to the Great Hall, who joined them without much of a fight after Adam beckoned him over and the boy even cracked a smile. Blue watched the tendrils of his tattoo sticking out the collar of his shirt wave merrily as tiny crows flew in circles around his shoulders and Blue was impressed that the boy could even feel happiness.

No one even noticed that Gansey had not made an appearance.

He just couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something brewing in the forest. Something that they’d missed. So far it just wasn’t making any sense to him. Something was definitely going on but he couldn’t work out for the life of him how it all came together. Choosing to skip the Halloween feast, he’d snuck out of the castle and now Gansey stood at the edge of the trees and stared desperately into the darkness trying to get some sort of answers straight in his head. He hadn’t even seen the thing that Ronan said he saw yet and as much as he didn’t want to admit it, there was a chance it could have been a dream. A weird and suspiciously relevant one, sure, but could have been a hallucination all the same. He desperately wanted to know what was going on but the pieces just didn’t make sense. They were only in the first few steps of their exploration and he was already stuffed. It hadn’t been like this before. They’d discovered secret passages throughout the castle and made sense of the room of requirement without this level of confusion. Not this early on in the proceedings, anyway. Gansey was concerned that despite his previous eagerness to explore and discover, this felt very different from anything else that had held his interest. He couldn’t help but think that maybe if he was able to receive Merlin’s teachings then he’d have some sort of… well, higher purpose than his birth right.

He thought bitterly over what had been given to him by his parents and his genetic pot luck. Sometimes he wondered why his parents had even bothered to make sure he was enrolled in school because it wasn’t like he needed it. Oh no, he had a place on the Wizengamot and the key to an enormous Gringotts vault just waiting for him when he was finished with his schooling. What was the purpose of all this wasted time if he was just going to be given all that? According to his sister, it was all for appearance. Well, didn’t Gansey know that? He knew deep down that his parents were good people but he just couldn’t ignore the fact that they had sat on the fence during the Great War. The Gansey’s were survivors and would give up everything, even their own morals, to keep their own future, and the future of their children, stable. Well wasn’t that just a fantastic way to raise your kids. He didn’t want to be known like that. He wanted to separate himself and Merlin was the way to– Gansey took a breath and stopped that train of thought in its tracks. He was being selfish. It was selfish to look at all he had and crave something more. He just needed to know if he could find Merlin. For himself.

Running a hand through his hair, Gansey as about to turn around and head back up to the castle when something caught his eye. A small blue orb was bobbing up and down in between two trees at the edge of the forest, _just like Ronan had described_. As he moved closer to it, his eyes wide opened in awe, a second one appeared behind it and a third behind that. The orbs repeated themselves deeper and deeper into the trees until they showed a long pathway through the woods. His excitement reawakened, Gansey pulled his wand out of the back pocket of his trousers and whispered lumos into the dark before following the orbs. It didn’t escape his notice that the blue lights faded away after he passed them but he was hastily scribbling some sort of map in the back of his journal in the hope that not only could it direct him out of the woods but also back to wherever the orbs were taking him. The woods were oddly silent as he walked, sounds of wildlife and magical creatures strangely absent. He jotted that note down as well, pretty sure that it was relevant to the strange path this magic wove between the trees. As he approached an unusually large oak, Gansey felt his excitement grow to all consuming heights as he almost ran towards it, desperately hoping that something would be there. It was! A shining blue triskelion glowed subtly blue in the dark woods and Gansey sighed out loud in glee.

He was not the only one excited. Standing silently in the cover of darkness that the trees leant him, Whelk watched carefully as Gansey picked his way closer to the glowing symbol. After he’d seen Gansey leave the castle after dark, Whelk had been in half a mind to give him a week’s detention then and there, if not purely out of irritation that he’d not been able to get anything more out of him. Thank god he’d decided instead to follow the boy, as there was no way he’d been able to pick out the path towards the tree himself. It confused him how Gansey had just known which way to go, winding through the trees as if he was following an illuminated path but all Whelk could see was the light of Gansey’s wand as it bobbed through the trees. In front of him, the boy reached out to trace the symbol which had now faded from its’ cold glow to a deep, burnt engraving into the bark. Whelk watched the boy scribble a quick sketch into his notebook before taking off into the dark again, winding through the trees a similar way that he came. Once he was very sure that he had gone, Whelk rose from his hiding place and walked slowly to the tree, eager to suss out its’ secrets for himself. With all his magical experience, he should be able to pull from it more information and understanding than that jumped up upstart could possibly pick up.

However, once he’d come close to the tree and lit his wand, there was nothing to be found. Fury rose up in Whelk’s gut as he snarled at the tree in question, almost scratching his nails into the bark in anger. Where the hell had it gone? He went as far as to attempt revealing spells on it but to no avail. Almost about to give up and trek back through the trees, he noticed something bright in the corner of his eye. Eagerly, he turned around, hopeful to see the symbol glowing again, but instead of the soft triskelion a glowing red gash revealed itself into the tree. If Whelk hadn’t known better he would say that it was on fire but he did not want to risk out and touch it. Deciding that he’d already got the upper hand from seeing both of these omens (not to mention he was a little scared), Whelk stumbled back through the trees, mind whirring.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this isn't moths and months late.
> 
> I'm gonna give myself a gold star!
> 
> As usual, hope everyone enjoys this chapter and stuff - this was probably my favourite one to write and I've been looking forward to writing it for a while. Let me know ya thoughts if ya like!
> 
> The Chariot symbolises awareness of the possible consequences of triumph, however it's antithesis is success in spite of resistance... make of that what you will!


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